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BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



OF 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA 

CONTAINING 

BIOGRAPHICAL and GENEALOGICAL 
SKETCHES of 

MANY OF THE PROMINENT CITIZENS OF TO-DAY 
AND ALSO OF THE PAST 



'■'■Biography is the only true history." — Emerson. 



ILaLaUSTRATRD 



CHICAGO 

HOBART PUBLISHING COMPANY 

1905 



^.JV 



'Tlic liislory of a nation is best told in the H-rcs of its people." — Macatlay. 



PREFACE 



The present age is happily awake to the duty of writing- its own records, 
setting down what is best worth remembering in the lives of the busy toilers 
of today, noting, not in vain glory, but with an honest pride and sense of 
fitness, things worthy of emulation, that thus the good men do may live after 
them. The accounts here rendered are not of buried talents, but of used ability 
and opportunity. The conquests recited are of mind over matter, of cheerful 
labor directed by thought, of honest, earnest endeavor which subdues the earth 
in the divinely appointed way. "The great lesson of biography." it is said, "is 
to show what man can be and do at his best." A noble life put fairlv on record 
acts like an inspiration, and no more interesting or instructive matter could be 
presented to an intelligent public. 

In this volume will be found a rectird of many whose lives are worthy the 
imitation of coming generations. It tells how some, commencing life in 
poverty, by industry and economy have accumulated wealth. It tells how 
others, with limited advantages for securing an education, have become learned 
men and women, with an influence extending throughout the length and 
breadth of the land.- It tells of men who have risen from the lower walks of 
life to eminence as statesmen, and whose names have become famous. It tells 
of those in every walk of life who have striven to succeed, and records how 
that success has usually crowned their efforts. It tells also of those, who, not 
seeking the applause of the world, have pursued the "even tenor of their way," 
content to have it said of them, as Christ said of the woman performing a deed 
of mercy, "They have done what they could." It tells how many, in the pride 
and strength of young manhood left all and at their country's call went forth 
valiantly "to do or die," and how through their efforts the Union was restored 
and peace once more reigned in the land. 

Coming generations will appreciate this volume and preserve it as a sacred 
treasure, from the fact that it contains so much that would never find its way 
into public record, and which would otherwise be inaccessible. Great care has 
been taken in the compilation of the work and every opportunity possible given 
to those rejiresented to insure correctness in what has been written ; and the 
publishers flatter themselves that they give to their readers a work with few 
errors of consequence. 

Yours respectfully, 

January, 1905. HOB.\RT PUBLISHING COMP.WV. 



". / l^coplc that take no pndc m the imblc achici'cinciits of remote aiieestors khI! 

never aclnevc anything zvorthy to be remembered with 

pride by remote generations." — Macaulay. 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



OF 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA 



SAMUEL ATLEE. 

Samuel Atlee, honored and respected by 
all not alone because of his success, Init by 
reason of the straightforward methods he 
has ever followed, has in a long and active 
business career developed ideas into com- 
mercial possibilities and transmuted im- 
mature plans into marketable commodities. 
The extent and importance of his business 
interests and connections at the present day 
render him one of the prominent factors in 
conunercial, industrial and financial circles 
in southeastern Iowa, and l;iis investments 
efifect trade relations and promote business 
prosperity o\-er a wide territory. 

The nnme of Atlee has figured in the 
history of I.ee county since 1836, when John 
C. and Kmeline S. (Brooks) Atlee, estab- 
lished their h(^me in Fort Madison. It was 
but two years later on the 29th of October, 
1838, that their son, Samuel Atlee, was born. 
He accpiired his preliminary education in 
the public and private schools of Fort Madi- 
son and afterward continued his studies in 
Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, where he pursued 
a business course that qualilied him for en- 



trance into the active career which has since 
claimed his time and energies. Returning 
to Fort Madison, he entered his father's mill 
not a.s the hani])ered son of a prosperous 
parent, but as an employe who made it his 
object to fully qualify himself for the busi- 
ness by a mastery of every detail in each de- 
partment. Gradually as he acquainted him- 
self with the trade in its \'arious branches 
he assumed the management and eventually 
in 1868 was admitted to a partnership. Con- 
secutive progress has marked his endeavors 
and as opT)ortunitv has offered and tnide de- 
manded he has enlarged the plant until it 
has a capacity of about twenty-five million 
feet of lumber aiuuially, while employment 
is furnished to three hundred workmen. 
The mill is ec|uippcd with modern machinery 
and every facilit\- to advance the business 
and the entire plant and yards cover thirty- 
five acres. F.xcellent shipping facilities 
ha\e been secured, private tracks connecting 
the yards with all of the railroads entering 
Fort Madison. The business is largely con- 
ducted along wholesale lines, but a retail de- 
partment is now in operation. Mr. .\tlee 
owns luniher lands in Minnesota and Wis- 



12 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



consin, while during the winter months he 
gives employment to many men to prepare 
the timber for shipment to the mill to be 
mainitactured into a product for the lumber 
market. 

This is but one of the interests which 
claim the attention and have profited by the 
co-operation of Samuel Atlee. He was a 
prominent factor in the organization of the 
Lee County Savitig's Bank, which was in- 
corporated in 1889 and at the first meeting 
of this board of directors he was elected 
president, wliicli position he still holds. 
The bank was capitalized for thirty thousand 
dollars, which amount has since been in- 
creased to fifty thousand dollars and the in- 
stitution now has a surplus of $10,000 and 
deposits amounting to $500,000. In 1895 
was erected the structure now known as the 
Lee County Savings Bank Building at the 
corner of Second and Market streets. It is 
50x145 feet, is three stories in height, was 
constructed of lirown sandstone and is the 
best building in this section of the state. 

The bank occujiies the rooms on the ground 
floor at the corner and the adjoining room 
is occupied by tlie postoffice. The bank is 
equipped with the latest devices for safetv 
protection as well as for convenience in con- 
ducting the banking business. The second 
story of the building is de\i)ted to offices and 
the third floor is utilized by the Ma.sonic fra- 
ternity. 

.Mr. .\tlee installed the electric light 
plant that is used in lighting the city and 
also for private lighting and in this enter- 
prise was associated in the ownership with 
hia father. The ]>lant was established in 

1887 and has been enlarged from time to 



time until it is now very extensive. Mr. 
Atlce is a director of the Street Railway 
Company, of Fort Madison, and is finan- 
cially interestetl in the Fort Madison Can- 
ning Factory, which gi\es employment to 
many operatives during the season. 

Public spirited in citizenship and a 
stanch Rc])ublican in his political views Mr. 
-\tlee has. however, never .sought nor de- 
sired oftice. but his position in the regard of 
his- fellow townsmen was indicated by his 
election in the years 1893, 1895 and 1899 
to the mayoralty. He gave to the city an 
efficient, business-like administration, con- 
ducting municipal affairs with the same 
sjjirit of industry and enterprise that has 
e\'er been manifested in his private com- 
mercial and industrial interests. It was dur- 
ing his terms in office that the sewer system 
was inaugurated and that much of the pav- 
ing in Fort Madison was laid. Fraternally 
a Mason, he belongs to Stella Lodge, Free 
and Ac('ei)ted Masons; Potowonok Chapter, 
l\o\:d .\rch Masons, and Delta Command- 
er)-. Knights Templar. 

l)n the 20th of January, 1867. Mr. Atlee 
was married to Miss Nancy M. Wright, of 
'■"ort Madison, a daughter of Mrs. Rosanna 
Wrigln. Mrs. .\tlee died March 29, 1904. 
Mr. .\tlee has a beautiful home in the midst 
of attractive grounds at the corner of Fourth 
and Market streets, in the city which has 
been his ])lace of residence diroughout his 
entire life, save for a brief period in his 
bovhood, when his parents resided upon the 
farm in Lee county. To him there has come 
tlie attainment of a distingui.shed position in 
connection with imjiortant productive in- 
dustries and financial cnter])rises. It is true 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



13 



that in early iiiaiihond lie became interested 
in a business already established, but he 
had the foresisjht and capability to develop 
and enlarge this and has also extended his 
efforts into various other fields, his entire 
career pi-o\'ini;' that success is not a matter 
of genius, but the direct result of sound judg- 
ment, experience, commendable ambition 
and honoralile pur])ose. 



JOHN C. ATLEE. 

John C. Atlee, of Fort Madison, now 
deceased, who as a pioneer in the develop- 
ment of the lumber industry of southeastern 
Iowa and an active promoter of railroad 
construction contributed in a large measure 
to the substaiuial upbuilding and prcjgress 
t)f the state, his lal)ors entitling him to 
classification with its founders and builders, 
was descended from English ancestry. A 
nati\e of Marxland, he was born ou the 
J2d of March, 1816, and spent his youth in 
tiiat state, living with his paternal grand- 
parents. Subsef|nently he removed to New 
^'ork city, where he entered U])ou an ap- 
prenticeship to the carpenter's trade and 
when his term of indenture had ended he 
was employed as a journeyman in New 
\nvk city for several years. The keen fore- 
sight which enabled him in Later years to 
recognize and im])rove business opportuni- 
ties led him to seek a home in the West and 
he went by way of the sea to New Orleans 
and thence to Mobile, .\labania, working in 



different cities at his trade. His .sojourn 
in tile South, liowe\er, was temporary and 
he made his way up the Mississippi river to 
l-'ort Madison, where he arrived in 1836, 
finding an embryo town with the develop- 
ment and upbuilding, with which he be- 
came closely associateil. He continued his 
active connection with building operations 
until 1S41. assi.stiug in the construction of 
many of the more important of the earlv 
i)uiidings of b'urt Madismi. in the year 
mentioned, however, he removed to Cedar 
township, where he purchased a tract of 
land and developed a farm, but after car- 
rying on agricultural pursuits for eleven 
years he returned U\ fort Madison in 1S52 
and began the lumber business. He dealt 
in the manufactured product until 1855, 
when in connection with a Mr. Bennett, 
under the firm name of Atlee & Rennett, he 
built a sawmill, which the\' operated for 
two years. On the expiration of that period 
he purchased his partner's interest, thus be- 
coming sole ])roprietor. The mill was lo- 
cateil on the ])resent site of the extensive 
Atlee lumber enler])rise of Fort Madison 
that is now c inducted by his son, Samuel 
Atlee. The father enlarged the mill from 
time to time as the demand for his product 
increased and became the owner of the first 
extensive lumber industry of the city. He 
was also the first man to bring logs down 
the river to be mruiuf.actured into a market- 
able commodity and he carefully watched 
for indications pointing to success, enlarg- 
ing and developing his business as he saw 
opportunity until its importance as a pro- 
ductive iuflustry of southeastern Iowa was 
widelv .acknowledged. About 1868 he ad- 



14 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



initted his sun Samuel to a partnersliip and 
the firm style of S. & J. C. Atlee was as- 
sumed. The relation between father and 
son was maintained for some time, Init 
ultimately the father retired from active 
business life some years prior to his death. 
Had he confined his attention alone to his 
lumber business he would haVe merited dis- 
tinction as a citizen of southeastern Towa 
who had won notable success, and yet he 
extended his efforts into other fields of 
activity that resulted to the great benefit of 
the state as well as to his individual pros- 
perity. He was instrumental in securing- 
the buildint^ of tlie St. Louis. Keokuk & 
Northwestern Railroad, now a part of the 
Chicago, Burlington & Quincy system 
through Fort Madison. He was likewise 
instrumental in the building of the Chicago, 
Burlington & Kansas City road and with 

B. W. lOavis took the contract for building 
the section of the roafi from Fort Madison 
to Farmington. It was also largely through 
his influence that the narrow gauge road 
to West I'oint. now a branch of the Chicago, 
Burlington & Quincy Railroad, was con- 
structed and his labors proved a potent fac- 
tor in securing the extension of the Santa 
Fe Railroad to Fort Madison. No other 
element has done more to advance civiliza- 
tion and ])roniote industrial and commer- 
cial activity than has railroad building and 
in this connection Mr. Atlee's service 
proved of direct and lasting lienefit to liis 
adopted state. .\ stanch ad\ocate of Re- 
publican principles from the organization 
of tile party to the time of his demise John 

C. Atlee, although without aspirations for 
public office, represented his ward in the city 



council and was also a member of the school 
board. He was es])ecially interested in edu- 
cational matters and township improvements 
and was a co-operant factor in many 
measures that resulted beneficially to Fort 
Madison and Lee county. b'raternally he 
was connected with the Independent Order 
of Odd Fellows, his association therewith 
dating back to the middle of the nineteenth 
century. 

Mr. .\tlee was married at Quincy. Il- 
linois, in 1836. to Miss Emeline S. Brooks. 
of Boston. Massachusetts, a representative 
of the same family to which Philips Brooks, 
the noted dixine. belonged. ^Ir. and Mrs. 
.Atlee became the parents of four children 
who reached adult age : Samuel : Martha, 
the wife of Peter Okell, of Fort Madison; 
Margaret, the wife of (j. M. Hanchett, and 
William H. 

The life record of John C. Atlee forms 
no unimportant chapter in the history of 
Lee county, for along business, social, po- 
litical, educational and moral lines his in- 
fluence was felt as a directing force and his 
labors were of acknowledged benefit. 



HON. EDWARD JOHNSTONE. 

Edward Johnstone was for half a cen- 
turv one of the most prominent and dis- 
tinguished citizens of Iowa, and was a 
leader in business and political affairs, as 
well as a man of most extensive information 
and versatile talents. No man in the State 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 15 

of Iowa was better kiKnvn (ir more Iii.i^hly mil for the West, locating at Mineral Point, 

respected than was lie. In almost every Wisconsin, where he remained niitil tlie 

pnhlic enterprise he was a prominent hgure, fall of the same year, when he went to 

yet he ne\er sought preferment, although Burlington, then the cajjital of Iowa, and 

he possessed qualifications for the highest served as clerk in the territorial legislature, 

oftices. During that session he was appointed one 

Hon. Edward John.stone was horn in of three coniniissioners to gather testimony 
Kingston, Westmoreland county, Penns\i- regarding titles to what were known as 
vania, July 4. 181 5. His jiaternal ancestr\- "half-breed" lands. The discharge of this 
was originally from Annandale, Scotland, duty was facilitated by his removal to Mont- 
and the first of his immediate family who rose, where he remained for one year. In 
emigrated to Ireland was Robert John- 1839, 'iftt^r the law under which he was ap- 
stone. Tiiis was late in the seventeenth or pointed was repealed, he went to Fort Madi- 
early in the eighteenth century, .\le.\ander son, having", together with General Hugh 
Johnstone, the father of our suliject, was T. Reid, been employed by the St. Louis 
born in Ireland in 177-i. and came to this Land Conipan}- to institute proceedings to 
countr\- in 1796. where he married Miss secure a division of the lands under the 
Elizabeth Ereame, a native of the Keystone partition laws of the territory. This re- 
stale though of Irish descent. Unto them suited in the Decree Title under which the 
were born ten sons and two daugiiters. The lands are now held. 

two eldest sons were eilucated in the United In 1839 Mr. Johnstone was elected to 

States Military Academy, West Point, New tlie legislature, and for two successive terms 

York, and served in the regular army, was speaker of the house. In 1840 he was 

.Another son. William V. Johnstone, was the elected to the council, and during President 

third governor of Pennsylvania, .\nother. Polk's administration was I'nited States dis- 

James, a scholar and a poet, was through trict attorney for the judicial district of 

the Me.xican War and was one of the prom- Iowa. In 1851. when the board of county 

inent military men of western Pennsylvania, commissioners was estaljlished, Mr. John- 

.\nother lirother, John W., served in the stone was elected judge of Lee county, and 

Me.xican ami Civil W.ars. attaining the served in that capacity until 1855, making 

rank of colonel. The youngest son. Rich- the most efticient guardian of the com- 

ard, was appointed to a lieutenancy in the munity's interests to wMiom the ])ublic af- 

regular army, and was killed in the Me.xican fairs of the county was ever intrusted. 

War. The father, a man of fine physique. In 1857 ^^ "^^'^^ '"^ meml)er of the state 

died at the age of one hundred years. constitutional convention, and as such as- 

Our subject was educated in his native sisted in making the present constitution of 

town, and also read law and practiced at the state. He distinguished himself in that 

Greensburg in the same county. .Admitted body by his eminent ability, took a prorni- 

to the bar at the age of twenty-two, he set nent part in all its deliberations, and did 



i6 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



mucli to secure the incorporation into tlie 
constitution of many of its most important 
provisions. 

After the expiration of his term upon 
the bench Judge Johnstone engaged in the 
banking business, the title of the firm l)e- 
ing McMurpliy, Jolmstone & Bacon, whicli 
was subsequently changed to Johnstone & 
Bacon. In 1868 he removed to KeokuI< 
and to the management of the Keokuk Sav- 
ings Bank, of wliich he continued the 
executive head until his death, which oc- 
curred May 17. 1891. and it is to Judge 
Johnstone's great business and financial 
ability that the success attained by this 
most prosperous institution is due. 

Through his influence the first state in- 
sane asylum at Mount Pleasant was estab- 
lished, he being one of three commissioners. 
When Iowa's commission was appointed for 
the World's Columbian Exposition he was 
made a memlier and chosen president. In 
fact, he never entered a meeting of men as- 
sembled for deliberation that he was not 
called to preside. 

When -Mr. Cleveland was elected to the 
presidency for the first time there was a 
large and spontaneous movement to have 
Judge Johnstone called to the cabinet from 
the West, but he himself refused to con- 
sent. From public office he ever shrank. 
During the last years of his life he was 
president of the Pioneer Lawmakers' As- 
sociation of Iowa. 

In January. 1840, the first attempt for- 
mally to organize the Democratic party in 
Iowa was made, and with that end in view 
a document, which is still in existence, was 
prepared by Mr. Johnstone personally and' 



signed by himself and sixteen others setting 
forth the necessity of at once taking steps 
toward bringing the party's members into 
line and electing Democrats to congress. 

When Joseph Smith, the founder of 
Mormonism. met with those difficulties at 
Xauvoo which have become matters of his- 
tory he at once wrote to Mr. Johnstone to 
defend him, and had not that gentleman 
been starting for his old home in Pennsyl- 
vania, he would have been counsel in that 
celebrated case. The letter from Mr. Smith 
is still in the possession of Judge Johnstone's 
family. 

Judge Johnstone was greatly interested 
in the success of the Columbian exposition, 
and was especially anxious that Iowa's 
geological display should be full and com- 
plete. Had he been spared, there is no doubt 
that he would have been of great assistance 
to Iowa's exhibitors. To Judge Johnstone 
as much if not more than any other man is 
the city of Keokuk indebted for its fine gov- 
ernment building, as well as for the dry 
docks, for his influence was exerted most 
effectively in behalf of these important im- 
provements. 

He was a close student as well as a 
great reader, and it was rare indeed that the 
moments between business hours did not 
find him engaged in reading. To his many 
other accomplishments was added the ability 
to compose poetry of superior merit. As 
early as 1857 he was awarded the prize of- 
fered by the management of a prominent 
St. Louis opera house for the best poem 
to be used on the occasion of their opening 
performance. 

Judge Johnstone married Miss Elizabeth 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



17 



V. Ricliards in .\i)ii!. 1849, the cereiiionv 
being celebrated in St. Louis county. Mis- 
souri, and to them were Ixirn three sons 
■ and one daughter. Alexander E.. president 
of the Keokuk Savings Bank, of Keokuk, 
Iowa. Edward R.. now residing in Cali- 
fornia. Hugo R., a residetit of New York. 
Miss Mary M. makes her home with her 
brother at Keokuk. 

Judge Johnstone was affable and 
friendly in conversation, and had the 
faculty of making friends. He numbered 
his friends among both political parties. He 
was a man of high culture and education, 
with all the instincts and fine sensibilities of 
a gentleman. No man in Iowa had more 
to do with the making and shaping of the 
commonwealth than he. During all the 
time of his residence here he was identified 
with all the great public movements. He 
had a wide acquaintance throughout the 
state, and many went to him for counsel and 
advice. It seems appropriate in this place tc) 
quote from an estimate of Judge John- 
stone's character as made by a fellow citizen 
of Keokuk : 

"A mail of strong convictions, he was 
ready on all occasions to express them and 
conscientiously stand by them. Charitable 
in his judgment of others, fair to those who 
opposed him, considerate of the opinions of 
others, however widely they might difYer 
from those entertained by himself, with a 
warm and sympathizing heart towards all 
who were in need and sorrow, with a loyalty 
to friends that was ])roverbial, the sum of 
such a life may find expression in the words, 
a good citizen, faithful public servant, true 
friend, kind husband and indulgent father. 



lie was at all times an honest, honorable, 
kindly man. lie flattered nobody, he per- 
secuted nobody, he maligned nobody, but 
was always frank and open. He gave every- 
body his due. He was plain in his manner, 
plain in attire, plain in language. He was 
a man of the people." 



JOSEPH M. CASEY, M. D. 

Dr. Jose])h M. Casey, one of the leading 
physicians of Eort Madison with offices in 
the County Savings Bank building, was 
born in this city August 3, 1865, and is a son 
of Hon. Joseph M. Casey, who is repre- 
sented elsewhere in this work. The public 
schools afforded him his literary education 
and after completing the high school course 
by graduation he entered upon the study of 
medicine under the direction of F. C. Rob- 
erts, of Fort Madison, with whom he con- 
tinued for some time. He then matricidated 
in Rush Medical College of Chicago and was 
graduated with the class of 1888. Return- 
ing immediately to Fort Madison, he again 
entered the office of Dr. Rolierts, with 
whom he remained for about three years, 
during which time he gained valuable, prac- 
tical experience, thus putting to the test his 
theoretical knowledge. He then opened an 
office and has since remained alone engaged 
in general practice, in which he has been 
\ery successful, viewing from both a busi- 
ness and professional standpoint. He has 
pursued a post-graduate course in the New 



i8 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



York Polyclinic and has been a constant 
student of the science of medicine, carrying 
his investigations far and wide in order that 
he might promote his efficiency and render 
his labors of greater value in the important 
calling which he has chosen as a life work. 
In 1893-4 he was the physician for the peni- 
tentiary located at Fort Madison and was 
also physician of the board of health of this 
city for three years. At one time he prac- 
ticed in Old Mexico for a little more than 
a year, being located at Cedral Coahuila as 
mine physician. He belongs to the Lee 
County Medical Society, the State Medical 
Society, the American Medical Association 
and the Tri-State Medical Association, of 
which he is one of the charter members while 
at its organization he was elected the junior 
vice-president. 

Dr. Casey was married December 23. 
1895. at Fort Madison, to Mi.ss Sarah Zillah 
Johnson, a daughter of Professor Nelson 
Johnson. She was educated in Fort Madi- 
son and is well known in social circles. She 
also received a musical education in St. 
Louis. Of the two children born of this 
marriage one died in infancy, while the 
other is Robert Sabert Casey, now seven 
years of age. Dr. and Mrs. Casey hold 
membership in the Episcopal church and he 
belongs to Claypoole Lodge, No. 13, Free 
and Accepted IVLisons; Potowonok Chapter, 
Royal .\rch I\L-isons. No. 28; Delta Com- 
mahdery, No. 5 1 , Knights Templar, and the 
Mystic Shrine. In politics he is a Democrat, 
but has never had aspiration for office. Com- 
munity interests, however, elicits his atten- 
tion and receive his support and he favors 
everv movement calculated to benefit his 



city. He is now president of the board of 
trustees of the Cattermole Memorial Library 
of Fort Madison. His home located at No. 
932 Fourth street is one o'f the handsome 
residences of the citv. 



REV. GEORGE D. STEWART, D. D. 

Rev. George D. Stewart, D. D., who for 
fifty-five years devoted his life to the Chris- 
tian ministry the greater part of this time 
lieing spent in promoting the work of the 
Presbyterian church in Iowa, resigned on 
the 1st of JanuarA^ 1904. his pastorate in 
Fort Madison after twenty-se-ven years' con- 
nection therewith and is now living in the 
enjoyment of a rest well-merited. How- 
ever, his life, growing broader spiritually 
and mentally year by year, still gfives out 
of its rich stores, wisdom and experience, 
and his counsel is yet sought by many. His 
influence has long been a potent power for 
good in Iowa, and will continue after he has 
passed away for- "Our echoes roll from soul 
to soul, and grow forever and forever." 

Rev. Dr. Stewart is a native of Penn- 
sylvania, his birth having occurred at Jen- 
kintown. near Philadelphia, in Montgomery 
county, on the 30th of December. 1824. His 
boyhood was spent there and his early edu- 
cation was obtained in the Abington Friends' 
school. Subsequently he entered the Law- 
renceville Classical and Commercial High 
School, of New'Jersey, completing his course 
in that institution in September. 1842, and 




KEV. GEORGE 1). STEWART 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



21 



is now one of the oldest living graduates 
of that famous institution of learning. He 
is likewise a graduate of Lafayette College, 
at Easton, Pennsylvania, of the class of 1845, 
and his literary training was supplemented 
by preparation for the ministry as a student 
in Princeton Theologicid .Seminary, where 
he completed his studies in .\])ril, 184Q. The 
previous year he had been licensed to preach 
and on leaving the seminary he immediately 
entered upon the active work of the ministrj' 
his first charge being a missionar}^ field at 
Conquest, Cayuga county, New York, Octo- 
ber, 1849, \vhere he remained for two years. 
While there, in April, 1850, he was ordained 
by the Presbytery of Steuben, Synod of 
\^'estern New York, at Port Byron. He 
then accepted a call from the First Presby- 
terian church of Bath, New York, where he 
labored as pastor of that church for eight 
years. 

In the fall of 1859, Rev. Dr. Stewart 
came to Iowa to seek a drier climate for 
throat trouble, accepting the charge of the 
missionary ciraiit comprising West Point. 
Sharon, Pilot Grove, Primrose, Dover and 
Franklin in Lee county, Iowa. He contin- 
ued that work for four and a half years. The 
minister, whose pastoral duties are now con- 
fined within a small circuit owing to the 
condensed population of our towns and 
cities, little realizes the arduous labors that 
devolve upon the pioneer minister, who 
braved the storms of winter and the hot sum- 
mer's sun in order to carry the message of 
salvation into frontier districts, to proclaim 
the glad tidings of great joy in pioneer 
homes or to speak words of consolation and 
sympathy at the death bed. With marked 



consecration to his chosen field of labor, put- 
ting forth every effort in his power to bring 
the world into harmony with divine teach- 
ings and principles, Dr. Stewart rode for 
miles on horseback over a country where 
homes were widely scattered and wliere the 
journey was ofttimes frauglit with danger as 
well as discomfort. His visits were eagerly 
welcomed and to this day his name is lov- 
ingly spoken in mrmv a hnvisehoid, wliich he 
visited in pioneer times. 

His next charge was the First Presby- 
terian church at Burlington, Iowa, where he 
remained for six and a half years, meet- 
ing with marked success and then accepted 
a call from the First Presbyterian church at 
Omaha, Nebraska, where he labored for a 
similar iieriod, trebling tlie church member- 
ship. In June, iHjj, the honorary degree of 
Doctor of Divinity was conferred on him by 
Hanover College, Indiana. In 1877 '^*^ ^^'^^ 
called to the pastorate of the Union Presby- 
terian church at Fort Madison, Iowa, en- 
tering on his duties on the ist of April, of 
that year, and remained as pastor until Jan- 
uary I, 1904, when after a continuous serv- 
ice of twenty-seven years he resigned and 
is now leading a retired life. Fifty-five years 
he has given to the work of the ministry and 
his labors have not been denied the full har- 
vest nor the aftermath. Every church with 
which he was connected made substantial 
progress, growing in spiritual growth and 
extending the various church activities. Un- 
der his pastorate the present house of wor- 
ship at West Point was erected and the 
church edifice at Fort Madison was also 
built. Another material evidence of his la- 
bors is shown in the cemetery and church 



22 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



grounds at Sliaron. Tlie land was pur- 
chased throus^li liis instrumentality and the 
church located there. Upon the cemetery 
a large sum of money has been expended, 
amounting probably to about $85,000 the 
gift of the Seeley family according to the 
expressed wish of the youngest son and 
brother, George Seelej-, and although this is 
a country cemetery the cities of the state can 
display no more beautiful resting place for 
the dead. The church at ^Primrose is also 
the result of the labors of Dr. Stewart, the 
First Presbyterian minister who preached 
there. Under his careful guidance and con- 
secrated labors his congregations have de- 
veloped a spiritual strength that has been 
a most potent element for good in the vari- 
ous communities mentioned. At leng^th af- 
ter more than a half century's active con- 
nection with the ministry, of which forty- 
five years have been passed in Iowa, and Ne- 
braska, Rev. Dr. Stewart was honorably re- 
tired by his presbytery, at his own request. 
He still officiates occasionally, however, in 
the pulpit and at funerals and at weddings 
in response to the demands of those who 
have come to love him and desire his min- 
isterial services on these sacred occasions. 

Dr. Stewart was married in Fort Madi- 
son. Iowa, October 4, 1864, to Miss Emily 
Stewart Walker, the eldest daughter of Dr. 
J. C. Walker, one of the pioneers of this 
city who came to Lee county in 1836. Their 
union was blessed with one son and three 
daughters: George B.. who is a practicing 
attorney of Fort Madison; Helen Walker, 
who died at Omaha. Nebraska, at the age 
of five years, her remains being in- 
terred in the citv cemetei-y at Fort 



Madison; Anna residing with her par- 
ents in this city; and Miriam, now the 
wife of T. P. Hollowell. Jr., of Fort Madi- 
son. Mrs. Stewart's parents, grandmother 
and great-grandfather were pioneers of Lee 
county, coming to Lee county. May, 1834. 
The maternal grandmother of Mrs. Stewart 
was Mrs. Emily Stewart, widow of Dr. 
Abram Stewart, who was assistant surgeon 
in the L^nited States army, and was sta- 
tioned at JefiLerson Barracks, St. Louis, Mis- 
souri, as early as 1809. He resigned his 
position in the army to enter upon the pri- 
vate practice of medicine in and near St. 
Louis, making his home at Florissant, a 
suburb of that city. There upon the 20th 
of January. 1820, Martha Maria Stewart, 
the mother of Mrs. George D. Stewart, was 
born. Dr. Joel Calvin W^alker. the father 
of Mrs. George D. Stewart, was born in 
.Springfield. Ohio. February 7. 1812, his 
parents having removed to that city from 
Rockbridge county. Virginia. He studied 
medicine in Circleville. Ohio, and afterward 
attended lectures in Jefferson Medical Col- 
lege, at Philadelphia. For a number of 
years he practiced his chosen profession and 
then retired. He held a number of the lead- 
ing local offices in Lee county. Iowa, and was 
a prominent and influential citizen here, mak- 
ing his home in Fort Madison until 1888, 
when he passed away at the age of seventy- 
six years. His widow still resides in Fort 
Madison. The Union Presbyterian church 
of Fort Madison was organized in 1838 with 
a charter membership of seventeen and seven 
of this number were members of the Walker 
and Stewart families. Mrs. George D. 
Stewart was born in Fort Madison, Iowa, 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



23 



and acquired her early education in the 
private schools and pubHc schools of Fort 
Madison, and in Denmark Acjidemy, in Lee 
county, the oldest incorporated educational 
institution of the state. She afterward at- 
tended for three years, the Female Semi- 
nary at Steubeinille. Ohio, where she was 
graduated with the class of i860. She has 
been a most able, helpful and sympathetic 
assistant to her husband in all of his work 
and throughout Lee county the names of 
Dr. and Airs. George D. Stewart are revered. 
Nature bestowed upon them many of her 
rare gifts. They possess minds of broad 
compass and industry that have brought 
forth and developed the talents wiiich they 
received. Their humanitarian spirit and 
kindly sympathy have been continually man- 
ifest ill their relations to their fellowmen 
and have made them honored and respected 
wherever they have gone. 

Dr. and Airs. Stewart spent three of the 
early months of 1904 at San Diego and Los 
Angeles. California, with great pleasure and 
profit to health. While this volume is pass- 
ing through the ])ress, they are arranging 
for a trip to the Southern Mediterranean .in 
"the P.ible Student's Cruize." on the White 
Star steamer, "Aral)ic." If permitted to 
carry out their puri:)ose. they will visit South- 
ern Spain. Giliralter, Algiers, Walta. Athens, 
Constantinople, .Asia Minor, Palestine, 
Eg)Tit, Italy, Englanfl and Scotland. This 
trip which Dr. Stewart has long desired to 
make will be a suitable and very pleasant 
conclusion to his many years of labor, and 
will show that as he enters his eighty-first 
year sufficient health, energ}' and courage re- 
main to enable him to undertake, with Mrs. 



Stewart's companionship, a journey over 
the Atlantic ocean of 15,000 miles and 
which will take them from the center of 
this continent to visit the shores of Europe, 
Asia and .\frica. 



HON. C. A. KENNEDY. 

Among the better known and most suc- 
cessful of tlie younger ])usiness men of Lee 
county, Iowa, is Hon. C. A. Kennedy, of 
Montrose, a native of that village, where 
his birth occurred March 24, 1869. He is 
the son of \\"illiam Kennedy, who was born 
in the year 1830 in County Galway, Ire- 
land, and the father of our subject on com- 
ing to America first located at Ogdensburg, 
New A'ork, whence he removed to Keokuk, 
Iowa, and there in 1856 he married Miss 
Maria Williams, who was born in Dublin, 
Ireland, December 13, 1837, and on the 
death of her parents accompanied an aunt 
to the United States, living for a number 
of years in the State of New York and later 
removing to Keokuk, where she met Mr. 
Kennedy. William Kennedy, who learned 
in his native land tlie trade of shoemaking. 
worked in a shoe shop for a time in Keokuk, 
but in i860 removed to Montrose, where he 
worked as a shoemaker until his death, 
which occurred June 22. 1885. ^^ ^^'"^^ "^ 
faithful member of the Episcopal church 
and fraternally was connected with the Ma- 
sonic order anfl with the IndeiJendent Order 



24 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



of Odd Fellows, while his political al- 
legiance was given to the Republican party, 
through which he took an active part in 
public affairs, being elected to membership 
in the municipal council and board of edu- 
cation. Air. and Mrs. Kennedy were the 
parents of eight sons and daughters, as fol- 
lows : John, now postmaster of Montrose, 
who married Miss Marjoie Ballou and has 
two children, Katherine and Margaret ; Wil- 
liam, who is engaged in the lumber business 
at Doty, Washington ; Eva, who died in 
December, 1902, was the wife of N. J. 
Chapman, of Everett, Washington, and is 
survived by three children, George, Fred 
and Helen; Jennie, wife of F. D. Butzer, 
of Bucoda, Washington; C. A., the subject 
of this review; George, who is superintend- 
ent of the public schools of Montrose ; Anna 
and Lilly. 

For his formal education Hon. C. A. 
Kennedy is indebted to the public schools, 
but as the death of his father occurred when 
he was but fourteen years of age, and as 
this event necessitated his leaving school, 
he owes the extraordinary development of 
his mental powers to intelligent oljservation 
and the reading of good literature, combined 
with a constant interest in current affairs, 
as to which he keeps himself thoroughly in- 
formed. Since his fourteenth vear he has 
been successfully engaged in the nurse\-y 
business in association with his brother, 
John Kennedy, the firm being Kennedy 
Brothers, and they are proprietors of the 
Eagle Nursery, which they purchased in 
1885 of H. M. Grouse, who had established 
the enterprise fifteen years previous to that 
date. Twenty-five to seventy-five men are 



employed during the spring and autumn, 
and Mr. Kennedy travels extensively in 
order to keep in touch with the work of 
similar establishments in other states, in- 
troducing all modern ideas as rapidly as it 
is possible to demonstrate their utility and 
availability. By these energetic and pro- 
gressive methods a very large and con- 
stantly growing business has been built up. 
covering a very wide extent of territory and 
supplying dealers who are located at very 
great distances, even as far, in some cases, 
as the State of South Dakota, where the 
products of the Eagle Nursery are well 
known and highly appreciated. In addition, 
]\Ir. Kennedy personally owns the twelve- 
acre tract on which is located the old family 
home, where he resides with his invalid 
mother, and he occupies the position of as- 
sistant postmaster of Montrose, giving his 
attention to the office in the absence of his 
brother John, w'hose profession, that of the 
law, frequently requires his presence at other 
points. 

Mr. Kennedy has always been active in 
local politics, serving the Republican party 
as chairman of its countv committee at 
one time and also in various other capacities 
in which his energy and unwavering loyalty 
have been important factors in its success, 
for he is possessed of practical ability of an 
unusual order. He enjoys vast popularity 
in his own community and throughout Lee 
county, and is known to all the leading 
statesmen of Iowa as a man whose honor- 
able record makes him a power in the state's 
affairs. He served as mayor of Montrose 
before he w'as twenty-one years of age. 
being then probably the youngest man to 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



25 



hold that office in tlie history of the United 
States, and a fact no less remarkahle, his 
administration was equal in efficiency to 
that of many a more experienced man. and 
he was re-elected. He was elected city re- 
corder and to many minor offices, and was 
treasurer of the hoard of education for 
many years. In the year 1903 he hecame a 
candidate for the Iowa legislature, and such 
is the esteem in which he is universally held 
hv his fellow citizens that although his party 
in Lee county is normally in the minority. 
he overcame the usual large majority of his 
opponents, and was triumphantly elected, 
thus securing entrance into what his friends 
freely predict will prox'e new and still 
greater fields of honor and usefulness. Mr. 
Kennetly has fraternal connections with the 
order of the Knights of Pythias and with 
the Modern Woodmen of America, while 
his mother and four sisters are memhers of 
the order of the Eastern Star, of which 
Mrs. Kennedy has been Worthy Matron in 
the Montrose lodge. The career of Hon. 
C. A. Kennedy is one that should 1)e full 
of inspiration for all young men. especially 
for those who depend for advancement upon 
their own efiforts and devotion to dutv. 



SABERT M. CASEY. 



.Sahert M. Casey, occupying a prominent 
position at the bar and in public regard, was 
born at Sigouniey, Keokuk county. Iowa, 
on the 28th of August. 1858, a son of Judge 



Joseph M. and Sarah J. C\asey. who was only 
three years of age when Inought bv his par- 
ents to Fort Madison, where he continuously 
made his home up to the time of his demise. 
He arrived in the city alxiut the hour that 
I'urt Sumter was fired upnn. I lis primary 
education was aci|uirc<l in the ])ublic schools 
lit Fort Madison and he was a meiuber of 
the first graduating class in the high school. 
Subsequently he entered Fort Madison 
Academv and when his litcrar\- course was 
finished he began preparation for the bar 
as a student in the law office of Casey & 
Hobbs. the senior partner being his father, 
who carefully directed his reading and his 
thorough mastery of the principles of juris- 
prudence enabled him to successfully pass 
an examination that secured his admission 
to the bar on the ist of November, 1879. 
On the 1st of May. following, he entered 
into partnership with his father under the 
firm style of Casey & Casey and this busi- 
ness relation was maintained until the eleva- 
tion of Judge Casey to the bench in 1886. 
For al)out two years thereafter Sabert Casey 
was alone, but in 1888 entered into a part- 
nership, whereby the firm of Casey & Stew- 
art was formed. Its existence continued up 
to the time of 'Mr. Ca.sey's death and he 
ranked as one of the leading representatives 
of the legal fraternity of Fort Madison. For 
more than twenty-three years he was 
identified with the legal profession for 
which by natural attributes and thorough 
jireiiaration and research he soon proved his 
fitness. Realizing that in this calling more 
than in almost any other success depends 
upon the force of the individual and that an 
unusual degree of keenness, power of analy- 



26 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



zation and logical summarizing of the chief 
points in a case are essential, he spurred him- 
self on in the attainment of the supremacy 
which he enjoyed. His devotion to his 
client's interests was proverbial and yet he 
never forgot that he owed a higher al- 
legiance to the majesty of the law. He pre- 
pared his cases with great fairness and ex- 
actness and a felicity and clearness in ex- 
pressifMT in the presentation of his case en- 
abled him to make a deep impression upmi 
the minds of his auditors. 

Mr. Casey was actively concerned in 
matters of public affairs and in fact a deeper 
or more helpful interest in community af- 
fairs. He was opposed to misrule in mu- 
nicipal interests, favored reform and pro- 
gress and at all times gave hearty co- 
operation to those movements which tend 
toward public good. In politics a Democrat, 
he held the office of city clerk in Fort Madi- 
son for several years, beginning in ]\rarch, 
1 88 1. He was a candidate for congress in 
1896, l)Ut could not overcome the strong 
Republican majoritv. although he polled a 
large and complimentary vote. F"or six 
years he was a member of the school board 
and the cause of education has materially ad- 
vanced by his unremitting efforts in l)ehalf 
of the schools. For several years prior to 
his death he was a member of the board of 
trustees and the president of the Cattermole 
Memorial Library. He was distinctively a 
man of affairs and the people acknowledged 
his ability and worth by electing him as the 
leading spirit in any movement that tended 
toward the advancement of the city, morally 
and socially. He was. however, compelled 
to refuse many positions of honor tendered 



him because his large law practice would 
not permit him to give the necessary time. 
However, to his enterprise and public-spirit 
are largely due the Cattermole library and 
the lecture courses as well as many other en- 
terprises of literary merit and profit. He 
had the entire respect and esteem of his 
community and his friends recognized in 
him the possession of many sterling traits 
of character. 

Socially Mr. Casey was a Knight Temp- 
lar, belonging to Delta Commandery. Xo. 
51. Knights Templar; the Mystic Shrine and 
the Order of the Eastern Star, acting as 
grand patron of bDwa in the last named for 
one year, and he belonged to Claypoole 
Lodge, Xo. 13. Free and Accepted Masons, 
and to Potowonok Chapter. Xo. 28. Royal 
.\rch Masons. He was likewise a member 
of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows ; 
the Knights of Pythias fraternity ; Fort 
Madison Lodge, X^o. 347. Benevolent and 
Protective Order of Elks: the Modern 
Woodmen of America and others. He mani- 
fested in his life the beneficent, helpful and 
brotherly spirit which is the basic element 
of these various organizations. At his 
death which occurred on the 20th of August, 
1903. resolutions of respect and sympathy 
were passed bv many societies of which he 
was an honored representative. Meeting's 
were held by the bar associations of totli 
Keokuk and Fort Madison, at which the fol- 
lowing resolution was reported and unani- 
mously adopted : 

"Whereas, the grim reai)er death has 
again invaded our ranks and removed 
from aninng us our late brother and asso- 
ciate Sabert M. Casev, for manv vears a 



LEE 'COUNTY, IOWA. 



27 



prominent, high-minded and exemplary 
member of our profession, therefore, we. 
the members of the bar at Fort Madison in 
conjunction with the l)ar at Keokuk, in joint 
meeting assembled at the court house at 
Fort Madison, Iowa, as expressive of our 
sentiments and feelings on the sad event do 
hereby adopt the following resolutions: 

"Resolved, That we deeply mourn the 
death of our friend, associate and brother 
member of the Lee County Bar; that we 
recognize and bear testimony to his moral, 
upright life, his untiring activity and zeal 
as a citizen in all ])ul)lic affairs for the wel- 
fare of this city and county, his uniformly 
kindly disposition to all and especially to 
his associates in his profession. 

"Resolved, That in his death our pro- 
fession has lost a menilier who from his 
e.irly manhood was prominent in our ranks ; 
that our city has lost an active and pro- 
gressive worker in its higher interests; that 
the county has lost one whom the people 
delighted to honor; and the great i)ul)lic has 
lost one who always sympathized with its 
best interests, who was active and efficient 
in the conduct of its affairs, and whose 
labors were made all the more effective by 
reason of his strong and noble character, his 
kind and charitable disposition and his wil- 
lingness at all times to expend his strength 
and means for the public and private welfare 
of others." 

Xo one is heard to speak of Sabcrt M. 
Casey except in terms of praise for in all 
life's relations he commanded the highest 
confidence. He used his power to the best 
ability and possessed laudable ambition, un- 
faltering courage and strong determination 



and in his calling he won .success that ranked 
him with the leading members of the Iowa 
l>ar. lie had a wide acquaintance in legal 
circles through the state and the Burling- 
ton Gazette said of him: "In the death of 
Mr. Case\' the profession loses one of its 
brightest ornaments, the district one of its 
best citizens and the community in which he 
lived one of its most honored members. All 
who had the pleasure of his acquaintance 
knew him onh- to honor and respect him. 
lie was a nuxst courteous and agrecal)le com- 
panicjn. an intelligent and interesting as- 
sociate and withal a highly agreeable and en- 
tertaining member of any society where his 
presence was met. Sabert M. Casey's mem- 
ory will long be cherished and honored by 
those who knew him in this part of the state, 
Ijccause he was always courteous, and no 
one parted with his companv without feeling 
that his association had cast a pleasant 
shadow upon the surroundings." 

There is no standard by which man may 
be lietter judged than 1)\ the concensus of 
public o])inion ;uid all unite in bearing testi- 
mony to the loftv character, high principles 
and manly conduct of Sabert M. Casey. One 
who knew him long said of him: "We be- 
lieve we are truthful in saying lli;it the an- 
nouncement of the death of no other man 
in Lee count}' would be received with the 
general sorrow that has been brought by the 
announcement of the passing away of Hon. 
Sabert M. Casey. We believe also that we 
are truthful in saying that there does not 
live in the broad State of Iowa a better man 
lh;in was he. .\n intimate friendship with 
him for twenty-ti\e years had ende.'ueil him 
to the writer as ;i brother. Huring these 



28 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



years we obser\e(l him in all manner of try- 
ing circumstances, especially in a political 
way and in conduct of legal battles where 
sometimes unfairness characterized those 
opposing him ; and where others would have 
chafed and fumed and fretted and vented 
their ire or disgust in loud or angry words, 
he ever preserved a calm demeanor and 
calm, dispassionate judgment and speech — 
always permeated v.'ith charity for those of- 
fending. Resourceful and tactful, forceful 
and kind, he won the highest esteem of his 
countless friends. Socially he was a charm- 
ing companion, well read, bright and witty 
— in business and profession as fair as the 
evenly balanced scales of justice. His life 
was as near faultless as it is possible for 
mortal man to live — and his fellowmen knew 
and ap]3reciate it. His memorj' will linger 
long witli them. Ma\' he rest in the utmost 
peace and may the fullest joys of whatso- 
ever may come after this life be his." 



WILLIAM R. TIMPE. 



Tn tliis age of energy and success, when 
men nf merit, industry and brains are ir- 
resistility pushing their way to the front, 
tliose wild by their own individual efforts 
have won favor and fortune may with pro- 
priety claim recognition. Mr. Timpe is an 
exxellent rejiresentative of this class. His 
position in the business world is that of 
senior menil)er of the firm of Timpe & 
Schroeder, lending dry goods and carpet 



dealers of Fort Madison. He was born in 
West Point township, Lee county, Iowa, 
September 4, 1859, and is the son of Jacob 
F. and Henrietta (Schultz) Timpe. Jacob 
F. was born in the village of East Lynn, 
province of Brunswick, Germany, January 
18, 1824. The mother was a native of the 
same pro\-ince, the date of her birth being 
March j6, 1823. 

Jacolj F. Timpe, in search of larger op- 
])ortunities for self-advancement, emigrated 
from Germany in 1848, and came to Lee 
county, where he secured employinent on a 
farm. The ordinary rewards of labor at that 
tiine were small, and the first wages he re- 
ceived were at the rate of five dollars per 
month. However, his work afforded him 
an opportunity to become acquainted with 
the business of farming and to familiarize 
himself with the language of the country 
which was to be the scene of his life and 
efforts. For six years he continued in this 
employment, and at the end of that time he 
had accumulated sufficient money to enable 
him to rent a farm to make an independent 
start in life, he having in the meantime mar- 
ried Miss Schultz. who had also come to 
this county directly from her native land. 
He rented a farm for eight years, and then 
purchased 120 acres in Pleasant Ridge town- 
ship. This he continued to occupy and to 
increase by further purchases until, at the 
time of his death, June 12, 1.902. he owned 
900 acres, having, by care and untiring in- 
dustr}-, became one of the most prosperous 
residents of that section. In politics he was 
a lifelong Democrat, although a firm be- 
liexer in gold as the basis of our national 
currencv, casting his ballot for Mr. Mc- 




R. TIMPK 



LEE COUNTY, 10 IV A. 



31 



Kinley in 1896. ami was honored by elec- 
tion to a number of township offices. He 
was one of the early members of the local 
congregation of the Lutheran church, and 
was a member of the building committee of 
the Cumberland Presbyterian church in his 
township. The wife and mother still resides 
on the old home farm in Pleasant Ridge 
townshij). To them were born six children. 
Four survive, and of these the subject of 
this sketch is the fourth, the others being 
Caroline; Sophia, wife of Isaiah Hosier, of 
Pleasant Ridge, and George S., who lives 
on the home farm. 

William R. Timpe was educated in the 
common schools of Pleasant Ridge town- 
ship and in Johnson's Business College at 
Fort Madison, after which he returned to 
the farm, and there remained until he was 
placed in charge of a business which came 
to his father through the failure of a man 
whom he had befriended in a financial way. 
Mr. Timpe assumed charge in 1886, and 
after six months he bought the store of his 
father. He continued the business in Fort 
Madison with great success for a number 
of years, and after several times changing 
to larger quarters he erected a fine two- 
story brick building in 1888 at No 731 Sec- 
ond street. The structure, the dimensions of 
which are 2-5x100 feet, is devoted exclusively 
to the business, and here he conducts the 
largest dry goods store in the city. In 1889 
he admitted Henry L. Schroeder as a ])ru-t- 
ner. the style of the firm being Timpe an<l 
Schroeder. By his own unaided effort Mr. 
Timpe built up a large and very successful 
business — one of the monumental institu- 
tions of Fort Madison — and of this achieve- 
ment he has good reason to be proud. 



Fraternal! v Mr. Timjjc holds member- 
ship in Stella Lodge, Free and Accepted Ma- 
sons ; Potowonok Chapter, Royal Arch Ma- 
sons, and in the local lodge of Benevolent 
and Protective Order of Elks. In politics 
he gives his support to the Republican party. 

In 1891 he was married to Miss Eveline 
Baldwin, daughter nf Isaac Baldwin, of 
Princeton, Illinois. They are members of 
the Episcopal church, of which Mr. Timpe 
is a vestryman. 

In matters pertaining to the general good 
Mr. Timpe has always been progressive. At 
the same time he has so conducted his busi- 
ness affairs that they have returned to him 
an excellent financial reward. At once con- 
servative and alert to the call of opportunity, 
he is today numbered among the prosperous 
citizens of Lee county, as well as one whose 
character should be an inspiration to all 
vounger men who have the ambition to rise 
to heights of success and honor. 



HON. JOSEPH MONTGOMERY CASEY. 

Hon. Joseph Montgomety Casey, three 
times elected district judge of the first ju- 
dicial district of Iowa, was a prominent rep- 
resentative of the judician,' of the state, but 
while his course upon the bench refiected 
credit and honor upon the district which 
honored him, it was his charming person- 
ality, his kindly spirit and abiding geniality 
that won him the friendship or love of all 
with whom he came in contact and causes 
his memorv to be cherished by those with 
whom he was associated. He was descended 



22 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



from an old and distinguished southern 
family and the name figures in connection 
with the bench and bar of Kentucky. His 
grandfather, Col. William Casey, a native 
of Frederick county, Virginia, became a 
resident of Kentucky in the winter of 
1779-80 and became one of the founders of 
Logan Station, near the present town of 
Stanford. His was a typical pioneer ex- 
perience and he performed an important 
part in reclaiming the state from the domain 
of the Indian and converting it to uses of 
civilization. In the spring of 1791 he or- 
ganized a party for colonization purposes 
and went down Green vwer to its mouth. 
Xot far distant a settlement was made and 
though considerable trouble was experienced 
because of Indian attacks, the brave pioneer 
people maintained their homes in the wil- 
derness and planted the seeds of present 
progress and prosperity. Colonel Casey was 
one of the most influential residents of his 
part of the state and not only aided in 
molding public affairs in his district, but 
also assisted in forming the policy of the 
state. He was elected by a large majority 
a delegate to remodel the constitution of 
Kentucky in 1799 and was also chosen to 
other important positions. He died at an 
advanced age. 

Green Casey, only son of Colonel Casey, 
who, however, had several daughters, was 
the first white child born in Adair county, 
Kentucky, and was reared amid pioneer en- 
vironment. He married Miss Jane Patter- 
son, a native of Rockingham county, Vir- 
ginia, and in 1836 they became residents of 
Sangamon county. Illinois. Xot long after- 
ward, \-isiting Iowa, then a territorv, he se- 



cured a claim adjoining the tract on which 
the town of West Point was afterward built. 
He then returned, sold his Illinois home and 
was making preparations to become a resi- 
dent of Iowa when his death occurred. 
Soon afterward, however, his widow carried 
out his plans of establishing the family home 
in West Point and with four of her chil- 
dren settled upon the land which her hus- 
band had secured. There she supervised 
the improvement of the farm and continued 
to make it her home until her death. Six 
children were born unto Green and Jane 
( Patterson ) Casey, fi\e of whom reached 
years of maturity : John A., who died in 
Kansas; Mary A., of this county; Margaret 
J., who became the wife of Albert U. Stone 
and died in Pekin, Illinois; William P., who 
died in Crawford county, Kansas, and 
Joseph M. 

Joseph M. Casey was born in Adair 
ciumty. Kentucky, March 25, 1827, and was 
therefore a young lad at the time of tlie re- 
moval to Illinois, while at the age of eleven 
years he came to Lee county. He suffered 
from ill health in his youth but managed to 
secure a good education, his public school 
course being supplemented by study in the 
academy at West Point where he was under 
the instruction of a celebrated Presbyterian 
clergAuian, Rev. John Mark Fulton. Early 
forming a resolution to make the practice of 
law his life work, he became a law student 
w ith Judge John F. Finney as his preceptor, 
and also pursued his reading under the di- 
rection of Cyrus Walker, one of the ablest 
jurists of Illinois. His close application and 
strong mentality enabled him to readily 
master the principles of jurisprudence and 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



33 



secured his admission to the bar wiien lie 
was but twenty years of age. 

Visiting- Keokuk county in search of a 
favorable location. Judge Casey was urged 
by his many friends to become a resident 
of Lancaster, then tlie county seat, and he 
was offered the position of jirosecuting at- 
torney. Tlien visiting Lee county and mak- 
ing arrangements for his removal to Keo- 
kuk county, he was soon installed in an 
office in Lancaster, and, as promised re- 
ceived election to the position of prosecuting 
attorney, in which capacity he served, by 
re-election, for about six years. His elec- 
tion to the position of county judge followed 
soon after the renio\al of the county seat 
to Sigourney, he became a resident of that 
place and remained upon the bench until 
April, 1861, his decisions being strictly fair 
and impartial and based upon a compre- 
hensi\e understanding of legal principles so 
that he won high encomiums from the mem- 
bers of the bar. He had also become in- 
terested in journalism, as an editor of the 
Iowa Democrat, but when two years had 
passed, desirous of making P'ort Madison 
his permanent home, he removed to this 
city, se\ering his connection with the jour- 
nalistic and legal interests of Keokuk 
county. I Ic had won success as a leading 
and gifted lawyer and the circle of his 
friends in that county had become an ex- 
tensive one. Locating in Fort Nhidison, be- 
cause of the lack of legal business, oc- 
casioned by the Civil W'.ir. he became editor 
of the Fort Madison Plaindealer, but when 
three years had passed, he withdrew from 
the field of journalism in order to devote his 
entire attention to his legal practice, which 



grew in volume and importance until he 
was called to the bench and retired from 
general practice. His knowledge of the 
law and experience in practice soon won 
him a leading position in the ranks of the 
legal fraternity. His reputation at the bar 
was won through earnest, honest labor and 
his standing at the bar was a merited tribute 
to his ability. He soon secured a large prac- 
tice and his careful preparation of cases was 
sup])lemented In* a power of argument and 
a forceful presentation of his points in the 
courtroom so that he never failed to im- 
press court or juiy and seldom failed to 
gain the verdict desired. Higher honors in 
his profession awaited him, for in i88() he 
was elected to the bench of the first judicial 
district of Iowa, and after a four years' term 
was re-elected in 1S90 and again in 1S94. 
having just entered upon his third term 
when called from the duties of active lite. 
On the bench as at the bar he won marked 
distinction. .\ man of unimpeachable char- 
acter, of unusual intellectual endowments, 
with ;i tlKiniugh understanding of the law. 
patience, urbanitv and industry, he took to 
the bench the very highest qualifications for 
the ofirce, and his record as a judge was in 
harmony with his record as a man and law- 
yer, distinguished by unswerving integrity 
and a masterful grasp of every problem 
which presented itself for solution. • 

Casting his first presidential vote for 
General Cass Judge Casey remained an in- 
flexible supporter of the Democratic party, 
but accorded to all the rights which he re- 
served to himself, of forming an unbiased 
per.sonal opinion upc)n all questions affecting 
the state and national welfare, as well as 



34 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



concerns of public policy and expediency in 
his community. He enjoyed tlie liigiiest 
confidence and esteem of those who dif- 
fered from him politically, numbering 
many of his warmest frieufls among the 
adherents of the Republican party. In com- 
munity affairs a leader, he wielded a wide 
and beneficial influence, and while serving 
as mayor of the city, to which office he was 
twice elected, he gave a practical, business- 
like and progressive adnu'nistration. He 
was called to represent his district in the 
house of representatives in the eighteenth 
general assembly of Iowa and several years 
later was elected state senator. His friend- 
shi]) fi>r tlie public-school system was dem- 
onstrated (luring his four years' service as 
president of the board of education. He 
was the champion of many progressive 
measures and his interest in his city was of 
so practical a character that its benefits are 
yet felt. 

.\ member of the ^lasonic fraternity 
Judge Casey's connection was with Clay- 
pool Lodge. Xo. 13. Free and Accepted Ma- 
sons: Potowonok Chapter. No. 28, Royal 
Arch Masons; Delta Commandery, No. 51, 
Knights Templar. He also belonged to 
Fort ^ladison Lodge, No. i^j. Independent 
Order of Odd Fellows, and was honored 
with various offices in these different organi- 
zations. 

In 1854 Judge Casey was married to 
Mrs. Sarah Jane Ward Hollingsworth. who 
was born in Wayne county, Ohio, in 
1832. a daughter of Thomas and Jane 
\\'ard. In 1850 she l)ecame the wife 
of Mr. Hollingsworth. who died the 
following year, and the son of that 



marriage, .\lbert E.. has always been known 
in I-'ort Madison by his step-father's name. 
Five children were born to them, of whom 
one died in infancy, the others being : Sabert 
M.; Belle \\. wife of William S. Hamilton; 
Josei)h M. and Sarah. 

Judge Casey died suddenly February 9, 
1895, having just entered upon his third 
term as judge of the first judicial district. 
Perhaps no better estimate of his character 
can be gi\-en than that contained in the 
journals of that date, one of which said : 
"Judge Casey was a man among men and 
his friends were numbered only by the limit 
(if his acquaintance. He was big hearted, 
kind to e\"eryone, pleasant in conversation 
and was loved by all. He was ever affable 
and obliging. As an attorney his opinions 
were highly \-alued. His aim has always 
been to put forth his best efforts for his 
clients and was ever opposed to the prac- 
tice of dishonesty or deception for the win- 
ning of a case when it could not be won on 
its merits. In fact he was a man of prin- 
ciple. As a judge he was always fair and 
unbiased in his opinions and possessed rare 
legal ability. He was probably the greatest 
brain worker in the state of Iowa, .\lways 
at his office in the earlv morning he read 
his newspaper and kept well in touch with 
the doings of the world through that me- 
dium and would then sit for hours at a time 
looking up decisions and references or read- 
ing law and seemed to be wh{')llv taken up 
with his profession. He was a deep rea- 
soner; in argument forcible in expression, 
convincing in tone and impressive in man- 
ner. His sudden death is a severe loss to 
his family and friends, his constituency of 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



35 



the district, the bar of the state and the pub- 
lic in general." 

S. T. Marshall, long his friend and ad- 
mirer, knowing almost his every thought, 
expressed the following sentiment : "Judge 
Casey had marked virtues inherent in his 
nature. He was all merciful and a wor- 
shiper of truth and right. The judge 
adopted that grand Roman motto in all his 
practice, 'prodesse quam conspici' (to im- 
prove rather than be seen). He loved not 
display and had a contempt for those who 
tried to pass for more than they were worth. 
His integrity could not be shaken and his 
innate love of honesty and trutli was pro- 
verbial and universally known." 

Faultless in honor, fearless in conduct, 
stainless in reputation, — such was his life 
record. His scholarly attainments, his 
statesmanship, his reliable judgment and his 
charming powers of conversation would 
have enabled him to ably fill and grace any 
position, however exalted, and he w^as no 
less honored in public than loved in private 
life. 



HON. ANDREW J. DIMOND. 

Hon. .Andrew J. Dimc^ntl, mayor of the 
City of Keokuk and proprietor of the 
Keokuk Milling Company, is a fair repre- 
sentative of the more progressive business 
element of Lee county. Mr. Dimond was 
born at Louisville, Kentucky, December 6, 
1845, the son of John and Elizabeth (Rudy) 
Dimond. The father was born in Ireland, 



and came to Kentucky as a young man. 
Being a shoemaker by trade, he conducted a 
shoe business in Louisville for a number of 
years. Elizabeth Rudy Dimond was born 
in Penn,sylvania. and removed when young 
with her parents to Maysville, Kentucky. 

In 1854 the father of our subject sold 
his business in Louisville, and brought his 
family to Keokuk, where he continued in 
tlie shoe business until 1885. becoming one 
of the leading shoe dealers of the city. He 
died in February, 1893. The death of the 
mother occurred in May. 1897. They 
reared a family of seven children. 

.Vndrew J. Dimond received his educa- 
tion in the public schools, and while grow- 
ing to years of maturity gained some knowl- 
edge of business in connection with the en- 
terprise conducted by his father. At the 
early age of nineteen years he volunteered 
for the service of his country in her strug- 
gle for the suppression of rebellion, enlist- 
ing in Company C of the Forty-fifth Iowa 
Volunteer Infantrjr in April, -1864. His 
regiment formed part of the Sixteenth army 
corps under General Smith, and was sent to 
Tennessee and Mississippi, where the young 
soldier .served until the end of the war and 
was honorably discharged. 

His military service ended, Mr. Dimond 
formed a partnership with his father, and 
they Qonducted a shoe business on Main 
street in Keokuk. By his energy, tact and 
talents he assisted in building up a very ex- 
tensive volume of business. This enter- 
prise they continued to conduct, with signal 
success, until 1885. when they sold it, and 
in 1887 Mr. Dimond bought what was then 
the Eagle Mills, changing the name to the 



36 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



Dimond Mills. The firm is now known as 
the Keokuk Milling Company, of which 
he and his son are proprietors, he having 
taken his son into partnership in 1889. 
Since acquiring the business he has thor- 
oughly remodeled the mills, installing the 
most impn)\ed equipment, modern in every 
respect, and the product has liecome cele- 
brated throughout a \ery extensive territory 
as of superior excellence. The details of 
the work have his personal attention and 
supervision to a large extent, and he has 
cause to feel pride in what he has accom- 
plished. Special lines manufactured are 
table meal, brewer's grits and meal. Pearl 
hominy and graham flour. The firm are 
also dealers in hay and feed, and Mr. Di- 
mond 111 lids real-estate interests in the city. 

In his fraternal relations Mr. Dimond is 
a member of Puckechetuck Lodge, No. 43, 
Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of 
which he is Past Grand and trustee, and also 
a member of Puckechetuck Encampment, 
Xo. 7, Independent Order of Odd Fellows. 
He has been through the chairs, and has 
served as delegate to the Grand Lodge of 
the state. In the Grand Army of the Re- 
public he is a memlier of Torrence Post of 
Keokuk. 

In December, 1867. ^Ir. Dimond was 
married to Miss Carrie T. Kaltwasser, who 
was born in Germ;uiy and with her parents, 
Mr. and Mrs. William Kaltwasser. came to 
America when two years of age. They have 
two sons and one daughter, as follows : 
Harry C, who is associated with his father 
in l)usiness; Dr. Charles A., physician and 
surgeon of Keokuk, and Elizabeth C. The 
familv residence is a commodious and liand- 



some structure erected by ^Ir. Dimond at 
718 High street. 

Mr. Dimond has never been an aspirant 
for public office, but by reason of the general 
favor with which he is regarded and on 
account of the ability displayed in the con- 
duct of his private affairs, he was elected 
in 1903 mayor of the city of Keokuk, and 
has proved easily equal to the trust, giving 
a strong and efficient administration. 
Among his official acts was the appointment 
of the first water commission, which has 
resulted in considerable improvement in the 
municipal water supply. He is a man of 
])leasing and genial presence, and enjoys 
wide popularity, while at the same time the 
substantial nature of his connection with 
the city's material interests has tended to 
inspire confidence and respect. 



HON. JAMES A. JORDAN. 

As the architect of his own fortunes 
Hon. James A. Jordan, mayor of the city 
of Fort Madison, Iowa, has builded wisely 
and well, and his efforts, too, have been of 
material benefit to the city. As a servant 
of the public and through his position as 
superintendent of the Iowa Farming Tool 
Company he has contributed largely to the 
improvement of ' Fort Madison, and while 
promoting individual prosperity has also 
advanced the general welfare. Practical in 
all he does, far-sighted and enterprising in 
his quick recognition of opportunity, he has 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



37 



used time, talent ami means t() the best ad- 
vantage. A man of purpose, upright in in- 
tent and honorable in contact, his popularity 
is of the kind that comes to such a man 
naturally and unsought. He was born at 
['ratts\'ille, Greene county. New ^'ork, May 
iS. 1840. and is the son of William R. and 
Dolly ( W'eismer) Jordan. William Jordan 
was in lousiness in Prattsville for a numl)er 
of years, being by trade a (ailor. He later 
removed to Leonardsville, Madison county. 
New York, and there rounded out the full 
measure of a worthy and useful life, his la- 
mented death occurring in 187T. There also 
passed awav his helpmeet and companion, 
the mother of our subject, in the year 1880. 
She was born at Delhi. New York, the 
daughter of Walter Weismer, of that place. 
James A. Jordan was educated at Leon- 
ardsville and the academy at West W' infield, 
and immediately upon the conclusion of his 
schooling entered the' fork and hoe shop 
which w-as in operation at that time in 
Leonardsville. and. by hard and ])ainstaking 
toil as a practical workman, attained a 
thorough mastery of the business of manu- 
facturing the tools and implements of agri- 
culture. He pursued the same line of en- 
deavor for a time at Naugatuck. Cnnnecti- 
cut. his services having been secured by the 
Tuttle Manufacturing Company of that 
place, and in 1875 '^^ came west to the city 
of his adoption, taking employment as a 
foreman for the Iowa Farming Tool Com- 
pany. With this company he has remained 
continuously for thirty years, and the proof 
of his ability and high integrity is that he 
has risen by merit alone to his present posi- 
tion. In 1894 he was also made superin- 



tendent of the company which manufactures 
farming tools at the state penitentiary, and 
in this capacity he has direction of the work 
of 140 to 200 men. this being in addition to 
his other duties. A number of other busi- 
ness enteqjriscs h;ivc also profited bv the 
imjietus of his favor and substantial aid. 

In politics Hon. James A. Jordan gives 
his allegiance to the Democracy. Beginning 
in 1 89 1 he served his ward, the second, in 
the city council for three terms of two years 
each, being an active and zealous member of 
se\eral important committees, and it was 
during this period that many of the improve- 
ments which now grace the citv were con- 
summated. In 1897 he received the high- 
est honor within the gift of his city, that 
of the office of mayor, and his eminently 
business-like administration led to his re- 
nomination in 1899, at which time, however, 
he was defeated, luit was again elected in 
1903. The electric lighting, steam hauling 
and interurban railway franchises have all 
been granted during his term of office. Both 
his administrations have been notable in 
the history of Fort Madison. 

In Claypoole Lodge Xo. 13, I'ree and 
Acepted Masons, and in Potowonok Chapter 
Xo. 28, Royal Arch Masons, Mr. Jordan 
has filled positions of honor and responsi- 
bility, and is also a member of the Benevo- 
lent and Protective Order of Elks. 

On August 2T,. 1887. he married Miss 
Susaiuia R. Wild, a daughter of W^alter 
Wild and a member of one of the older fam- 
ilies of Fort Madison. They occupy the 
l)eautiful residence erected by Mr. Jordan 
at Xo. 608 Third street. 

The career of Mr. Jordan illustrates 



38 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



most happily the truth that the man who 
possesses the right quahties of mind and 
heart needs nothing but his own merit to 
carry him to success in the business world, 
and that one so gifted may confer greit and 
lasting benefit in shaping the destinies of his 
community. And of him, as of few others, 
it may be said that had he never risen to 
the position which he now occupies, he would 
still be a man of marked and recognized dis- 
tinction. 



JOHN LACHMANN. 



John Lachmann, a prominent farmer re- 
siding on the southeast quarter of section 
1 8, Green Bay township, was born Decem- 
ber 1 6, 1859, in Jefferson township, Lee 
county, and is the son of William H. Grubb. 
The mother and father of Mr. Lachmann 
died when he was but an infant, and when 
he was two years of age was adopted, 
though not formally, by Carl and Louise 
V. (Frank) Lachmann, whose home was in 
Green Bay township. As they had no chil- 
dren of their own, he continued a member 
of their household until his marriage. 
Learning after he had attained his majority 
that he possessed no legal right to bear their 
name of "Lachmann," he made application 
to the Circuit Court of Lee county for the 
privilege, which was granted. 

Mr. Lachmann's foster father, Carl 
Lachmann, was born September 2, 1818, in 
Silesia, Prussia, and Mrs. Lachmann was a 
native of Saxony, near Leipzig, the date of 



her birth being September 11, 1830. They 
became acquainted in the State of New 
York, where both resided for a time, but 
were married in Chicago, coming then to 
Iowa. Carl Lachmann was a self-made 
man, haxing won his own \\ay in the world. 
He was of rather retiring disposition, but 
possessed ability, and was respected by all. 
Both were members of the Lutheran 
church. 

As a boy, our suljject received a good 
education in the public schools, and later he 
spent three terms in a German private 
school. During his early years he learned 
the German language at home, and when 
he began attending school he knew not a 
single word of English. He soon learned 
it, however, and now possesses the advan- 
tage of Ijeing thoroughly acquainted with 
both languages. 

In the German Evangelical church at 
Fort [Madison, October i, 1889. Mr. Lach- 
mann was united in marriage with Miss 
Anna E. Schubert, a nati\-e of Green Bay 
township. Lee county, where her birth oc- 
curred June 15, 1865. The marriage cere- 
mony was performed by Rev. Mr. Batrsch. 
Islvs. Lachmann is a daughter of Carl and 
Caroline Dorothy (Knospe) Schubert. She 
has recei\'ed a good common school educa- 
tion, and reads and speaks both the English 
and German languages. To Mr. and Mrs. 
Lacinnann ha\e been born two daughters 
and one son, as follows : Louise Victoria, 
l)orn in Green Bay township Tuesday, June 
30, 1891 ; .August Carl, born in Green Bay 
township Tuesday, January 2, 1894, and 
Alma Anna, bom Thursday. August 23, 
1900, at the present home of the family. 



LEE COUNTY. IOWA. 



39 



\Vhen about twenty-two years of age 
Mr. Laclinianii purchased forty acres of 
land atljoining the Lachmann lionie farm 
and later added forty-eight acres to tliis, 
having eighty-eight acres at time of his 
marriage, and after his marriage he resided 
in the old home of his foster parents, they 
having moved, and had charge of tlie farm. 
On May 6, 1894, he nio\-ed nn tlie Junge 
place, which he had boiiglit a short time l)e- 
fore. Tlie death of Carl Lachmann oc- 
curred "Februar}' 7, 1899, and that of his 
wife November nth of the same year, and 
all the property they possessed tliey Idc- 
queathed to Air. Lachmann, excepting $600, 
which went to other relatives of the Lach- 
mann family. Fie now owns 190 acres of 
excellent land, on which are three residence 
buildings. 

Mr. Lachmann acts in ix^litical matters 
with the Democratic party, and cast his first 
presidential ballot for Cleveland in 1884. 
He is popular, and has served his township 
two terms as its trustee. Indeed, he has 
at various times filled all the township offices 
except that of clerk. In the autumn of 1899 
he was elected county supervisor, and was 
re-elected in 1902, serving as chairman of 
the board one year. Fralernallv he is a 
member of the Knights of Pythias, and has 
been honored by election to all the of- 
fices of the local lodge at W^ever, as well 
as delegate to the Grand Lodge of 
losva. lie also has membership relations 
with Empire Lodge, Independent Order of 
Odd Fellows at Fort Madison, in which 
lodge he has passed all the chairs. He has 
attended the Grand Lodge, though not at 
the time serving as delegate. He is simi- 



larly connected with Claypoole Lodge, Free 
and Accepted Masons, at Fort Madison, and 
with Potowonolv Chapter, Royal Arch Ma- 
sons and the Benevolent and Protective Or- 
der of Elks at that place. He has hosts of 
friends, the result of his a1)ility, well-known 
integrity and genial disposition. Still in the 
prime of life, he has achieved much. 



JONAS RICE. 



Jonas Rice, a ^■enerable resident of 
Washington township, has had a long and 
useful career in this part of the state, and 
his name deserves honorable mention among 
those who have done so much to make it 
what it is. For more than sixty years his 
lot has been cast in Washington township, 
and here he has made an enviable name for 
himself, being widely known as an honor- 
able, upright and industrious man, a kind 
neighbor and a good citizen. 

Mr. Rice comes of good New England 
stock, and was born in Worchester county, 
Massachusetts, November 28, 1823, where 
his parents, Jonas and Grata (Partridge) 
Rice, were born and reared. In 1839 t'^^Y 
removed to the West, and settled in Wash- 
ington township, the journey in those days 
being both fatiguing and dangerous. It be- 
gan by stage to Springfield, Massachusetts, 
and thence to Hartford by boat ; to New 
York by steamer, and to Philadelphia by 
rail ; thence to Pittsburg mainly by canal, 
and down the Ohio by a new steamer to St. 



40 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



Louis; an old boat brought them to Fort 
Madison. The passengers had to walk 
around the Rapids, and take team for the 
Fort, a three days' trip, costing them twenty- 
five dollars. They arrived at the old hotel, 
the Maclntyre, in time for a late dinner, 
and in the afternoon paid a man five dollars 
to take them out on the prairie, where they 
quickly found a very desirable location. 

E. A. Eaton, a brother-in-law. had lo- 
cated the previous year on section 6, Wash- 
ington township, and was then living alone. 
His wife came on later. The elder Rice paid 
$400 for a claim on a quarter of section 5, 
in the same township, and a year or two 
after a land sale was made for Washington 
township, at Burlington. For the purpose 
of making a promising investment he bor- 
rowed two hundred dollars, for which he' 
had to pay thirty-three and a third per cent, 
interest, building a log cal)in, part of which 
is still in existence, being used in the house 
in which the subject of this sketch is still 
living. 

The elder Rice was always a farmer, and 
was a thoroughly upright and patriotic citi- 
zen of his day. In the old state militia he 
took a deep and vi\-id interest, and for 
many years held rank as a lieutenant colonel 
in its organization. He was long known as 
Colonel Rice. He was over seventy-two 
years of age when he was called to the 
world beyond. 

Mrs. Grata Rice lived to be a little older 
than her honored hus])an<l. She was one of 
a family of sixteen children, three of whom 
died young, and eleven lived to reach ma- 
turity. Three of her sisters are now living. 
Mr. and Mrs. Rice were members of the 



Christian church, and their remains are now 
at rest in the Denmark cemeterv'. He was 
a Whig in his earlier political hfe, and later 
became a Democrat, but voted for Abraham 
Lincoln on the occasion of his second elec- 
tion as president. After that he continued 
to vote the Republican ticket as long as he 
lived. 

Jonas Rice, the subject of this article, 
was mainly educated in the district school 
in his native state, where he passed the lirst 
sixteen years of his life. On coming west 
he attended district school in the Denmark 
district one winter term, and was also a 
student for a time in a pri\'ate night school 
taught by a Mr. Hobart in a neighboring 
church. He always lived at home, and after 
he had been of age several years his father 
deeded him a portion of the original home- 
stead, on which he was engaged in farming 
several years. While he carried on a sys- 
tem of general farming quite successfully, 
he was one of the first to see the advantage 
• of the dairy, and for many years he had 
large dairy interests which proved ven- re- 
munerative. 

Mr. Rice was married in June, 1849. to 
Miss Harriet Newell Cowles. She was a 
native of Xew York, and accompanied her 
parents to their settlement in Fort Madison 
in 1839. Her father, Josiah Cowles. was 
a botanic doctor, and practiced throughout 
the comnnmity in an early day, being re- 
membered ])}• the old settlers as a man of 
more than ordinary character and ability. 
To the union of Mr. and Mrs. Rice were 
born a family of six children, the oldest of 
whom, Oscar J., is now dead. The second 
child, Harriet .\manda, married William 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



41 



Benlx)\v. and died in Washington township. 
The third child. Phoebe LilHan. married Ira 
Dow, and is hving in Denmark township. 
Lucy Ida. the wife of G. Henry Colvin, lives 
in Washington. John G. is a resident of 
the township. Edward Josiah is still under 
the parental roof. 

Mr. Rice and his excellent wife are mem- 
sirable fami land, which he has well im- 
proved, and under a high state of cultiva- 
tion. When he bought it, it was nearly all 
unbroken, and it has been the labor of a 
lifetime to bring it into its present condf- 
tion. He is still actively engaged in farm- 
ing, and takes immediate supervision of all 
that is done on his place. 

Mr. Rice owns a half section of very de- 
bers of the Christian church, in which he 
has been an elder for many years. Politi- 
cally he is a Republican, and has been trustee 
of his township many times, filing other 
local positions of trust and responsibility to 
the j)erfect satisfaction of all who have had 
to do business with him in his official ca- 
pacity. 

The manv friends of Mr. and Mrs. Rice 
will be interested in this sketch of a career 
credital)le alike to the heart and character of 
one of the oldest living settlers of Lee 
county. 



HON. JOHN E. CRAIQ. 

John E. Craig is a prominent attorney 
of Keokuk whose efforts have had impor- 
tant bearing upon the legal history of his 
district, upon the ])rogressive development 



of his city and upon the legislative annals 
of his state. He was born at Claysville, 
Washington county. Pennsylvania, March 
14. 1835. his parents being Alexander K. 
and Sarah (McLain) Craig. His paternal 
great-grandfather. Alexander Craig, was 
the founder of the faiuily in the new world, 
emigrating from the north of Ireland to 
Washington county. F'ennsylvania. The 
family had originally been driven out of 
Scotland on account of the political trou- 
bles of the country and had taken refuge in 
Ireland. Alexander Craig settled near 
Clays\ille and there Hugh Craig, the grand- 
father, was born and reared. He spent his 
life as a farmer and upcm the did huniestead 
in Pennsylvania Alexander Craig, the father 
of John E. Craig, was \yovn. He, too, spent 
his youth in that county and after arriving 
at years of maturity he devoted his energies 
to merchandising and farming. He took a 
prominent part in Democratic politics, 
proved an active and helpful factor in con- 
trolling the interests of his party in his dis- 
trict and though not accepting any local of- 
fice he was elected in 1890 as a member of 
congress, occupying that position ;it the 
time of his death, which occurred in July, 
1892. His wife, who bore the maiden name 
of Sarah McLain. was born in his home 
. neighborhood and was a daughter of Wil- 
liam and Margaret McLain, who were like- 
wise of Scotch-Irish descent. 

John E. Craig having pursued hiV pre- 
liminary education in the schools of Wash- 
ington county, Pennsylvania, was subse- 
fiucntly graduated from the Washington 
and Jefferson College with the class of 1877. 
By teaching school through the winter 
months he had earned the monev necessaiT 



42 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



to meet his college tuition and other ex- 
penses of his more advanced course. The 
degree of Bachelor of Arts was conferred 
upon him when he was twenty-four years 
of age and three years later he won the 
honorary degree of Master of Arts. He 
was for one year principal of an academy at 
Pittsburg and then came west to Keokuk, 
Iowa, in 1878. Entering upon the study of 
lay under the direction of his uncle, J. H. 
Craig, he was admitted upon examination 
to the bar in 1879 and at once opened an 
office for practice. A year later he formed 
a partnership with his uncle, becoming a 
member of the firm of Craig, Collier & 
Craig. They enjoyed an extensive practice 
and Mr. Craig was associated profession- 
ally with his uncle until the latter's death in 
1893. There were changes, however, that 
occurred in the firm. A. J. McCrary suc- 
ceeding William Collier as the second part- 
ner. Following the death of the senior 
partner Mr. McCrary and Air. Craig re- 
mained together until the former's elevation 
to the bench, since which time Air. Craig has 
practiced alone, maintaining a foremost posi- 
tion as a representative of the legal fra- 
ternity in his district. He is now considered 
one of the strongest members of the Keokuk 
bar, which has numbered many men of not- 
able legal strength. He is a member of the 
State Bar Association, the Municipal Law 
League and the American Bar Association. 
He has been attorney for different corporate 
interests as well as a legal representative of 
many individuals and for many years his 
clientage has been of a very important and 
distinctively representative character. He 
was earlv identified with the Keokuk 



Electric Street Railway & Power Company, 
as one of its directors. 

Fraternally Mr. Craig is connected with 
the Knights of Pythias lodge and with the 
Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, 
in which he has served as exalted ruler. His 
political allegiance is given to the Democ- 
racv and he has been an active worker in 
its ranks. He was a member of the 
state legislature in 1886 and again in 1888 
and during these sessions served on various 
important committees. He belonged to the 
judiciary committee and was one of the sub- 
committee that reorganized the present ju- 
diciary system of the state. He was also 
one of the council appointed to prosecute 
Auditor Brown during that session and he 
introduced abill that later became a law, au- 
thorizing fidelity insurance companies to 
give bonds. He has also been prominent in 
community affairs and his deep interest in 
the welfare of his city has found tangible 
demonstration in the effective labor he has 
])ut forth for general progress and impro\e- 
nient. In 1889 he was elected mayor of 
the city and his first term proved so satis- 
factory to the people at large that he was 
re-elected in 1891. During this time the 
L^nion depot was built in Keokuk and the 
system of brick paving was inaugurated and 
an electric railway system built. The sewer 
system of the cit}' was likewise established 
and rebuilt and there is no western city to- 
day that has a finer system of this kind than 
has Keokuk. From 1896 until 1900 he 
acted as county attorney, covering two 
terms and he has attended the higher con- 
ventions of his party and was assistant sec- 
retarv at the National Democratic Conven- 



LEE COUNTY. IOWA. 



43 



tion held in St. Louis, was the nominee of 
the Democratic party tor cont^ress in 1902 
and 1904. running far ahead of liis party 
ticket in l)oth contests. For eleven years he 
was a member of the school board and he 
was also identified witii tlie establishment 
of the free public library and has been for 
some time president of the board of trustees 
under whose direction a splendid library 
has been developed which is indeed a credit 
to the city. Mr. Craig has likewise been a 
member of the Young Men's Christian As- 
sociation from the time of its organization 
and he was for some years president of the 
Keokuk College of Physicans and Surgeons 
and professor of jurisprudence until the time 
of its consolidation with the Keokuk Medical 
College. 

On the 7th of October, 1880, Mr. Craig 
married Miss Fannie S. Coulter, of Wash- 
ington, Pennsylvania, and they have one 
son. M. Coulter. They hold membership in 
the Presbyterian church and occupy a 
fine residence at No. 208 Fulton street, its 
generous hospitality being one of its most 
attractive features. From early ni inhood 
a resident of Keokuk this city has been the 
scene of his entire professional labor and 
his life record is well known to his fellow 
townsmen. While he has striven for suc- 
cess, which is the legitimate goal of all in- 
dividual endeavor, he has at the same time 
labored for higher ethical relations in the 
practice of law and in citizenship as well as 
in private life and in local and state office 
he has been the champion of many measures 
whose beneficial infiuence and far-reaching 
effect are now widely acknowledged. 



ST. MARY'S CATHOLIC CHURCH. 

St. Marys Catholic Church, of West 
Point, Iowa, holds an honored position on 
the roll of the parishes of that faith in the 
state. Its history runs far l)ack into the 
]iast, and its membership comprehends some 
of the best material to be found in that com- 
munity. Its pastors have been scholarly 
and devoted, its officials faithful and con- 
scientious, and its membershij) earnest and 
enthusiastic. 

The beautiful location of West Point, on 
the southern border of Pleasant Ridge, and 
the fertile parishes stretching far and wide, 
attracted many Catholic settlers, and as early 
as 1836 their religious preferences began to 
attract attention. Such families as the 
Dierkers, the Fullenkamps, the Strothmans, 
the Rumps, and others could not be lightly 
treated and ignored in any community. 
They were men of character and women of 
devotion, and when for the first time they 
were \'isited by a priest from Quincy, Il- 
linois, in 1838, it was the beginning of a 
work not yet ended. Father August Brick- 
wedde, was so encouraged by the result of 
his visit here that year that he made West 
Point a mission station. The following year 
he returned, and baptized Mary E. Groner, 
C.erhard H. Hellman, Mary E. Rump and 
P.arbara Ritt. .\t this time the double log 
house of Joseph Strothman was used as a 
chapel, and the officiating priest made his 
home with that family, or with the son. 
Casper, and later with Dr. Lowrcy. who ar- 
rived in 1845. 

Father J. G. Alleman was placed in 



44 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



charge of the CathoHc interests at West 
Point in 1840. and continued his ministr}'^ 
until 1 85 1. During the years 1844 and 
1845 he spent the most of his time here. 
and from this place made his pastoral visita- 
tions. The first church, a frame building, 
21x40 feet, was erected in 1842, and dedi- 
cated the following year. It sufficed for the 
congregation some eight or ten years, which 
ha<l now increased to fourteen families. In 
1849 a clear-toned church bell was given 
to this movement by Bishop Loras. and it is 
the same bell which is now used in the 
school. It was hung on trestles near the 
front door, and for many years was re- 
garded affectionately by the devout as it 
called them to song and prayer. 

Father Alleman is everj'where spoken of 
with peculiar reverence by the pioneers who 
have survived to the present time. He was 
a man of broad character, and a priest of 
piety and devotion, and his insight into the 
wants and needs of the people of those days 
was singularly quick and accurate. \\'hen 
he gave up the mission, he was succeeded 
by Father Michel, and by Fathers Walter- 
man, Reffe, Ilattenberg, Johannes Orth, as 
well as other al>le and devoted priests. 
Father Jacoby, is now the priest in charge. 

In June. 1855, Father \\'alterman was 
made resident pastor, and the oldest baptis- 
mal register, now preserved in St. Mary's 
was opened by him. .\bout this time some 
of the members sent back to Hanover, their 
fatherland, and induced Henry Krebs, a 
finely -educated young man. to come over and 
teach their children. In 1858, several 
families, removing to Minnesota, induced 
him to accompany them and teach their chil- 



dren. There remains in his beautiful hand- 
writing, a list of the parish which he com- 
piled in 1854. 

In the spring of 1856 Father Hatten- 
berg visited this parish, and he was followed 
by Father Michel for a time, and later by 
Father Reffe and Father Eusebius Kaiser. 
In December, 1858, Father Reffe became 
pastor, and was continued as such until 
1864. That year Father De Cailly took 
charge, and under him was a period of great 
growth for the pa.rish. He was a wise and 
exemplary priest, and as many families 
came over from Hanover and \\^estphalia, 
he was their one friend in a new and strange 
countn,-. He enlarged and improved the 
parsonage, and secured the erection of a new 
church, which was dedicated in 1862. 
Father Michel, from St. Paul, cared for the 
interests of this progressive movement for 
a year, and Father Orth, from Fort Madi- 
son, for another year. Father Hattenberg 
was sent here in 1867. and remained for 
two years, and under his direction the pres- 
ent brick parsonage was constructed. To 
him succeeded Father Johannes, and when 
this faithful pastor and pious priest was 
called to Dubuque in 1S71. his departure 
was felt as a personal loss by many who 
knew him well. .After him came Father 
Orth, who remained until 1876, when he 
was called to Keokuk. The memorable mis- 
sion of the Redemptorist Fathers Giessen 
and Jacobs must not be omitted in this 
hasty review. 

leather ^\'illiam Jacoby arrived in 
March, 1877, and has been in charge to the 
present time. I'nder him all the loose ends 
of parish administration have been gathered 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



45 



up, and magnificent progress in Iniilding a 
church of the Master has been made. Under 
him tlie church has been completely re- 
modeled and redecorated at a total expense 
of about $25,000. The parish has everj- 
mo.deni facility for e\ery department of its 
work, and all societies that it may need. 

Its school work is very dear to the hearts 
of the congregation, and was a part of its 
field as early as 1846, and in 1S50 was 
erected its first school house. In 1877 was 
built the present fine edifice, a brick build- 
ing, 55x70 feet, two stories in height with 
a roomy basement. It is arranged with four 
school rooms, in which the children are 
taught by the Sisters of St. Francis, whose 
mother-house is at La Crosse, Wisconsin. 
German and English are taught, church his- 
tory is made a study, and religious exercises 
are conducted in each room two hours a 
week by Fatlier Jacoby. 

Connected with the parish is a Young 
Men's Sodality for general literary work, a 
Young Ladies' Religious Society, and the 
Altar Society, to wliicli married Ladies are 
admitted. 

St. Mary's parish has also an assembly 
hall, seating about four hundred people, and 
here is housed a large circulating lil)rary. 
There is also a handsome parsonage, the 
home of Father Jacoby for many years, and 
to which all who call are made welcome. 

In 1903 the church began the remodel- 
ing of its building, and today it has one of 
the finest structures in this part of the state. 
The cost of the rebuilding exceeds $17,000. 
The redecoration, including the fixtures and 
windows amounts to $4,200. and the church 
is now valued at over $40,000, largely 



through the patient and persistent efforts of 
Father Jacoby, who has also installed in 
the church several valuable oil paintings 
and the first pipe organ the church has pos- 
sessed. 

St. Mary's in all its departments is 
equipped for work, and the work that it is 
doing reflects credit on its earnest and faith- 
ful members; but most of all upon its pious 
and consecrated pastor. Father Jacoby. 



THE REV. FATHER WILLIAM JACOBY. 

The miselhsh and dexcitcd labors of the 
Christian ministr\- have done much to 
elevate the manners, purify the hearts and 
quicken the moral powers of the people of 
the Nineteenth century, especially in the 
newer regions and on the frontier. The 
rush and stir of settlement is so immense in 
a new country, the material value of things 
so impressive if not overwhelming, that all 
the resources tlie unselfish life and the re- 
ligious heart could comm;uid. were needed 
to the maintenance of the kingdom of God 
in this worl<l. In this good fight the 
Catholic priesthood has always l>een con- 
spicuous. Its members able and consecrated 
ha\'e always tried to keep ali\'e in human 
society the sense of God and the obligation 
(if duty. In this great work Father Jacoby 
has been ])v no means silent or inefficient, 
lie has abundantiv ])ro\ed himself a loyal 
and trust\\iirth\- son of the Church, which 



46 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



has accepted his vows of consecration, and 
sealed him to its ministry. 

Father Jacoby, who has been pastor of 
the Catholic church of the Assumption, at 
West Point, since 1876, was bom in the city 
of Ettelbruck, Grand Duchy of Luxemburg, 
and was there reared. His parents, Peter 
and Catherina (Berg) Jacoby, were of pure 
German lineage, and their entire lives were 
passed in the old fatherland. The father 
was a successful shoe merchant. 

Father Jacoby when a young man pos- 
sessed but little means, and to a consider- 
able extent paid his way through college by 
money earned in giving instruction to the 
younger students. For seven years he was 
librarian of the lAixemberg public library, 
containing over a hundred thousand 
volumes. He completed his classical and 
philosophical studies in Luxemburg, and 
came to this country unattended by relative 
or friend. 

After his arrival in the United States 
the future priest became a student in the 
theological seminary at Milwaukee, Wis- 
consin, where he devoted two years to 
study, and was then admitted and ordained 
to the priesthood by Bishop Hennesy, of Du- 
buque, Iowa. The work of preparation had 
been well done, and the young priest had 
greatly profited by the rich opportunities af- 
forded him ; so that when he came to the 
West Point parish in 1876, it was with all 
the ])owers of a rich and generous mind, 
brought to a high degree of activity by a 
thorough and systematic training. 

From 1876 to the present time West 
Point has continued the home of this schol- 
arly and eloquent di\ine, whose influence 
has been great in the communitv. All his 



attention has been given to the St. Mary's 
church, which has greatly grown under 
his pastorate. When it began there were 
one hundred and forty-five families on the 
parish rolls. Today, in spite of the many 
removals from this region into the newer 
West, by those seeking cheaper lands and 
the opportunities found there, there are one 
hundred and eighty-five families still en- 
rolled in the church. 

The years of Father Jacoby have been 
full of hard labor as well as of rich attain- 
ment. Here he has built a large school, 
which is now under the charge of the Sis- 
ters of St. Francis from La Crosse, and has 
one hundred and ninety pupils in attend- 
ance. The building is a substantial brick 
structure, and is a monument to the zeal for 
education that has always moved and in- 
spired the pastor of St. Mary's in his public 
work. Father Jacoby made a trip to Eu- 
rope in 1890, and while there paid his re- 
spects to Pope Leo XHL, then the venerated 
and l:)eloved head of the church. 

In 1894 Father Jacoby erected the Mor- 
tuary, located at the cemetery, which was 
built at a cost of $1,700, and which is the 
pride of the community. It was erected in 
honor of the dead who rest there. The in- 
scriptii.in inside says : 

"Memento homo quia pulvis es et in 
puherem reverteris." 

Father Jacoliy is a devoted student of 
church liistory, and takes a deep interest 
in every effort that looks to the improve- 
ment of society. He is much beloved and 
respected alike by his own people and those 
of all faiths, who comprehend the useful 
and beautiful work continually being ac- 
complished at St. Mary's. 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



47 



EDWARD C. LYNN. 

The persistency of purpose which Su- 
perintendent E. C. Lynn displayed wliile ac- 
quiring liis education indicates the elemental 
strength of his character, and gave early 
promise of his successful future; and his 
career since leaving school has been in 
harmony with the promise of his youth, 
while his present activities and earnest atti- 
tude toward the work to which he is de- 
voting his life and energies bespeak still 
further development of his native talents 
and yet greater advancement to positions of 
honor, usefulness and public service. He 
is now superintendent of schools of Lee 
county. Iowa, and enjoys a rapidly increas- 
ing reputation as one of the rising educators 
of the southern portion of his state. 

Superintendent Lynn, who is now a resi- 
dent of Donnellson, Iowa, was liorn near 
Osage City, Kansas, and with his parents 
removed in 1878 to Henry county, Iowa, 
where he spent his boyhood days on a farm 
and began his education in the rural schools. 
He was graduated from the public schools 
at the age of sixteen years, and subsequently 
entered and was graduated from Howe's 
Academy, the Mount Pleasant Academy 
and the Henry County Normal Institute and 
also did considerable work along special 
lines bearing upon the teaching profession 
in the Iowa State Normal L^niversity. He 
holds a teachers state certificate, and his 
career as a teacher extended over a period 
of nine years of highly useful service, be- 
ginning with two years in rural schools, fol- 
lowed by one year in the Mount Pleasant 
Academy, and the remainder of the time he 

I 



was principal of graded schools, first at 
Primrose, then at West Point and the last 
three years at Donnellson. Meanwhile his 
personality and his brilliant work had at- 
tracted the widespread attention of older 
educators and of the general public, and in 
the autumn of 1903 he was elected lo the 
important office of county superintendent 
of schools, resigning his position as principal 
of the Donnellson schools to accept the 
larger opportunities and responsibilities. 
While ]\Ir. Lynn is one of the younger teach- 
ers of the county, his uniform success as 
a teacher, his energy, enthusiasm and 
natural ability have strongly appealed to the 
people, who placed him at the head of their 
schools with full confidence that these in- 
stitutions would receive his most careful 
thought and conscientious attention in every 
detail relating to their highest welfare and 
efficiency — an expectation entirely realized 
during the comparatively brief period of 
his incumbency and one evidently destined 
to yet fuller fruition in due time. 

In 1900 Mr. Lynn was united in mar- 
riage to Miss Mabel Ilarlen, a nati\e of 
Lee county, and two sons grace their union, 
these being Harold and Max. Mrs. Lynn, 
who is a lady of liberal culture and of un- 
usual social talents, is a member of the 
Christian church at 1 lillsboro, and Mr. 
Lvnn is a member of the Presbyterian 
church at New London; and while there is 
no congregation of either of these denomi- 
nations at Donnellson, and they have not be- 
come formally identified w ith any church in 
their present home, they ne\ertheless main- 
tain close relations with religious progress 
in the community, and are helpful and 



48 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



valued supporters of the work of the church 
in its various departments. Mr. Lynn has 
shown himself to be public spirited in all 
the best senses of the word, and is a loyal 
worker in the ranks of the Republican party, 
in whose principles he is a thorough be- 
liever and on whose ticket he received the 
honor of election to his present office. His 
principal and almost exclusive care, how-- 
ever, is the welfare of the public-school sys- 
tem under his charge, which is a very ex- 
tensive one, there being more than 200 teach- 
ers employed in Lee county, and in this 
field he finds worthy employment for his 
powers, for his work as principal of schools 
has shown him to be the possessor of execu- 
tive ability of no mean order, and in all that 
relates to the purely technical aspects of edu- 
cation his superiority is undisputed. More- 
over, he brings to his task that invaluable 
factor in the success of all public enterprises, 
the support and sympathy of the people, as 
he is highly popular, not only in the im- 
mediate vicinity of his home, but through- 
out Lee countv and wherever he is known. 



ALLEN T. ADAMS. 



-Mien T. Adams, one of the earlier set- 
tlers of Lee county, Towa, and now num- 
bered among the oldest residents of the 
county, was born December 16, 1826, in 
Adams county, Ohio, a memljer of one of 
the pioneer families of that state and son of 
Robert and Xancy (Oxchier) Adams. The 



father died in Ohio, but the mother came 
west and located in Whiteside county, Il- 
linois, whence she later removed to Iowa 
and joined her sons in Lee county, and died 
in Scotland county, Missouri, at the re- 
markable age of 106 years. She was the 
mother of six children, of whom only three 
survive, the two others being Chambers 
Adams, of Whiteside county, Illinois, and 
Sarah .\., wife of Thomas Walker, of near 
Kirksville. Missouri. 

Mr. Adams was first married near 
Rome, Ohio, in 1846, to Miss Margaret 
McCandlass, who died in 1873. and was 
buried at Yellow Bank cemetery\ she being 
the mother of eleven children of whom eight 
survive, these being Mary C., wife of Jacob 
M. Shook, of Mitchell county, Kansas, who 
has eight children: IMrs. Louisa Evans; Mrs. 
Anna Leckenneyer ; Mrs. .\llen Sharp; 
Mrs. Bertha Teten ; Joseph M. ; Francis R. ; 
Walter E. and Ralph E. ; Robert, who mar- 
ried Miss Margaret Danford, resides at 
Mooar. Iowa, and has four children, Mary, 
Cora, Katherine and Lydia ; William, who 
married Miss Belle Sharp, resides in Pratt 
county, Kansas, and has three children liv- 
ing, Viola, Ruby and William ; Joseph, who 
married Miss Belle Forsythe, resides at 
Pueblo, Colorado, and has two children, 
Nora and Ruby; Nancy, wife of Frank Croi- 
son. of New Mexico, has one child, Mar- 
garet : Allen, who married Miss Katherine 
I'^letcher, resides at Fort Madison, Iowa, 
and has three children. Pearl, Allen V. and 
Lida M. ; John, who married Miss Emma 
High, is a farmer of Jackson township: 
Lizzie, wife of William Lee. of Pratt 
county, Kansas, has one son, Joseph. On 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



49 



April 27, 1876, Mr. Adams remarried, 
wedding Mrs. .\manda J. Blakemoore, 
of Fort Madison, Iowa, and to them have 
been born five children, of whom four are 
living, as follows: James, now residing in 
Pratt county, Kansas, who married Miss 
Jenett Sharp and lias three ciiildren ; Wal- 
ter married Irene Oilar and resides at home : 
Ida. wife of Alonzo McCandlass. who re- 
sides at Mooar, Iowa, and has one child, 
and Margaret, wife of Charles Wright, of 
Keokuk, who has one child. Mrs. Adams 
also has one son. Edward Blakemore, a 
farmer of Jackson township, who married 
Miss Alice W'ittich and has four children. 
Richard. Alberta. Charles and Louise. 

Coming to Lee county in 1857, he was 
variously employed for four years, and in 
1861 went to Scotland county. Missouri, 
where he soon after enlisted in Company 
B, First Northeast Missouri Regiment of 
the Home Guards under Colonel Moore and 
Captain James Best, and was engaged in 
the battle at Athens and in scouting and 
skirmish duty for five months. .\t the ex- 
piration of that jieriod the regiment was 
regularly organized, and left the state, but 
Mr. Adams was then in such feeble health 
as to prevent his re-enlistment, and he re- 
turned to Iowa, locating in 1865 on his 
present farm in Jackson townshi]). where he 
has ever since resided. Here he has l)een 
very highly successful, and occupies an 
enviable position among the leading agri- 
culturists and largest land owners of Lee 
county, owning approximately 350 acres of 
fertile farming land well improved and un- 
usually productive. The farm, which was 
originally all located in Jackson township. 



has been divided into two tracts by a change 
in the channel of the Des Moines river, so 
that a portion now lies outside the town- 
ship. 

]\Ir. and Mrs. .\dams are well known 
throughout this vicinity as lifelong 
Methodists, and are members of the Valley 
Methodist Episcopal church, whose house 
of worship Mr. Adams helped to build and 
in whose welfare he has ever taken the 
deepest interest, contributing generously 
to its support and to its various charitable 
enterprises. All public movements of a 
worthy nature have commandetl his atten- 
tion and study, and he was in former years 
an active and helpful member of the Grange, 
which derived substantial benefit from his 
influential position and standing in the com- 
munity, and he is also known as a promi- 
nent member of the Republican party in 
Jackson township. Although he has never 
aspired to the holding of public oifice. he 
has at various times consented to discharge 
the duties of several minor official positions 
with a view to serving the interests of the 
community in which he lives, and tor this he 
deserves credit, for he has always amply 
justified the confidence of his fellow citizens. 
The public schools have been the especial 
object of his care and solicitude, and he 
has at times occupied the othce of .school 
director in order to keep more intimately in 
touch with this characteristically .\merican 
institution, which is the foundation stone of 
the nation's liljerties and one of the chief 
factors in her progress and continued great- 
ness. In fact, every movement or institu- 
tion calculatetl to promote the general wel- 
fare has elicited his sympathy and aid, and 



50 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



ever since casting his first ballot for Gen- 
eral William Henry Harrison for president 
of the United States he has conscientiously 
observed all the duties of citizenship, and 
in consequence enjoys today the admiration 
and respect of those who know him for the 
uprightness and strict integrity which mark 
his life record, while his personal loyalty 
and the social virtues of his character have 
made him a host of friends. 



DENNIS A. MORRISON. 

Among the strongest forces that have 
contributed to the substantial upbuilding and 
development of Fort Madison has been the 
intelligently directed effort of the men who 
have promoted its business afTairs Promi- 
nent in this class stands Dennis A. Morri- 
son, a leading financier of Lee county, 
whose association with important financial 
interests includes the presidency of the Fort 
Madison Sax'ings Bank and the vice-presi- 
dency of the German-American Bank. 
With keen insight into business possibili- 
ties and (ipprirtunities he has likewise been 
a promoter of varied interests which have 
had important bearing upon the business 
outlook and prosperity of the city, while con- 
tributing as well to iiidixidual success and 
in this connection he is the president of tlie 
Fort Madison Street Railway Company, the 
Fort Madison Gas Company and the Fort 
Ma(lisf)n Canning Comprmy. 

Mr. Morrison was born at Frankfort, 



Ross county, Ohio, October 5, 1839, his par- 
ents being Samuel D. and Maria (Blacker) 
Morrison. The father, a native of Xew 
York, Ijecame a resident of Ohio in his 
boyhood days and in Chillicothe learned the 
blacksmith's trade, which he followed in 
that city and in Ross county for many years. 
He came to Fort Madison, Iowa, in 1848, 
and after residing here for one year removed 
to Augusta, Des Moines county where he 
made his home fc.ir five years, returning then 
to Fort Madison, where he continued to re- 
side until his death. Prior to i860 he 
established a plant for the manufacture of 
plows and although the enterprise was be- 
gun on a small scale he developed a busi- 
ness in later years to extensive and profit- 
able proportions. After the close of the 
war his sons, J. B. and D. \. Morrison, 
who had been to the front as soldiers of 
the Union Army as had their two brothers, 
joined the father in business under the 
firm style of S. D. Morrison & Sons. The 
plant was then enlarged and its producing 
capacity increased from year to year as 
occasion demanded, it becoming one of the 
leading industrial concerns of the city. 

Samuel D. Morrison was united in mar- 
riage to Maria Blacker, during his residence 
in Ohio and all nf their children were born 
in that state. Mr. Morrison became one 
of the early members of St. Joseph's 
church of Fort Madison and was a generous 
contributor thereto, at the .same time giving 
liberally to any movements having for their 
object the educational and material upbuild- 
ing of the city. 

Dennis A. Morrison acquired his educa- 
tion in the common schools of Ohio and 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



51 



Des Moines county, Iowa, ami when seven- 
teen years of age began working in his 
father's shop, gaining intimate knowledge 
of the practical methods of manufacturing 
plows as well as conducting the financial de- 
partment of the business. After the in- 
auguration of the Civil War, hcjwever. in 
response to his country's need he enlisted in 
September, 1862, as a member of Company 
D, Seventh Iowa Infantry. He joined the 
regiment at Corinth. ^lississippi, and con- 
tinued with that command until after the 
close of the war when he was honorably dis- 
charged at Washington, District of Co- 
lumbia. He had participated in many im- 
portant engagements, including the battles 
of the Atlanta campaign, the march to the 
sea under Sherman and the march from 
Savannah to Washington and in the capital 
city he took part in the grand re\iew, which 
was the most celebrated military pageant 
ever seen on the western hemisphere. Dur- 
ing the latter part of the war he acted as 
quartermaster sergeant. 

I'ollowing his return from the ami)' Air. 
Morrison was admitted to a partnership in 
his father's business under the firm style 
of S. D. Morrison & Sons. He remained 
actively engaged therein until after the re- 
tirement of tile father, when the business 
was continued under the firm name of Mor- 
rison Brothers and later was incorporated 
as the Morrison Manufacturing Company, 
with a capital stock of one hundred thousand 
dollars, D. A. Morrison becoming the 
president. This was one of the earliest of 
the productive industries of Fort Madison 
and its business development was one of 
continue<l progression in keeping with mod- 



ern business methods. In the meantime Mr. 
Morrison has become an active factor in 
financial circles in Fort Madison as one 
of the organizers of the First National 
Bank and its president. He remained at 
the head of the institution until the bank 
closed and the I'-ort Madison Savings Bank 
was organized with a capital stock of thirty 
thousand dollars. He has been its president 
from the first and under his guidance it has 
become known as the leading commercial 
bank of Fort Madison with deposits of five 
hundred thousand dollars. In 1901 a fine 
bank building was erected and equipped with 
all modern conveniences and safeguards. 
b'or a number of years I\Ir. Morrison has 
been connected with the German-American 
Rank as vice-president and in financial as 
well as industrial circles his reputation has 
e\er been such as any business man might 
be proud to possess. Having the prescience 
to discern what the future held in store for 
the city and recognizing the opportunities 
for its further development, Mr. Morrison 
has become a co-operant factor in other en- 
terprises that have proved of marked benefit 
in promoting Fort Madison's progress and 
substantial upbuilding. He was active in 
the organization of the Fort Madison Street 
Railway Company, ])ecame a member of its 
tirst board of directors and in 1891 was 
made president since which time he has been 
in charge of its business affairs as manager. 
The cars were at first drawn by horses, 
but the motive power was changed to elec- 
tricity by Mr. Morrison soon after he as- 
sumed the management of the road. He 
was one of the founders of the Fort Madison 
Canning Company and is president of this 



52 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



successful corporation which is now fur- 
nishing employment during the canning sea- 
son to two hundred operatives. He early 
became identified with the Fort IMadison 
Gas Company and for tlie past ten years has 
been its president. He is financially in- 
terested in other business concerns and his 
investments have been so judiciously placed 
as to win for him excellent financial results 
and at the same time proved important fac- 
tors in business, progress and advancement 
in Lee county. 

In his political views Mr. Morrison is 
an earnest Republican who regards it the 
duty as Avell as the privilege of every 
American citizen to exercise his right of 
franchise and support the principles which 
he believes contain the best elements of 
good government. He has, therefore, taken 
a public-spirited interest in party work, was 
sent as a delegate to the Republican Na- 
tional Convention at Minneapolis which 
nominated James G. Blaine for the presi- 
dency and is recognized as one of the Re- 
publican leaders of tlie city, although he 
has no political aspirations for himself. He 
belongs to both the Commercial Club and 
to the Grand Army of the Republic. 

Mr. Morrison was married at Fort 
Madison in t868 to Miss Emma A. Ken- 
nedy, a daughter of John Kennedy, one of 
the early residents of this city. Unto Mr. 
and Mrs. Morrison have been l^orn three 
children: Maude, now the wife of Ralph R. 
Bradley, of Chicago ; Edward, of Fort Madi- 
son, and Don D., of St. Louis, Missouri. 
Mr. Morrison erected a beautiful home at 
the corner of Third and Cedar streets, 
which has Ijeen the family residence for 



twenty-one years. His life record forms an 
integral chapter in the city's history and 
while his personal success is notable and 
gratifying his co-operation in affairs of 
public moment and importance also entitle 
liim without invidious distinction to rank 
with the foremost residents of Lee county. 



JAMES CAMPBELL BREWSTER. 

James Campbell Brewster, president of 
the German-American Bank and vice-presi- 
dent of the Fort Madison Savings Bank of 
Fort Madison, was born November 19, 
i860, in the city which is still his home, his 
parents being Charles and Eliza Jane ( De- 
Forest) Brewster. His early education ac- 
quired in the city schools was supplemented 
by study in Denmark Academy and in Bn,-- 
ant & Stratton's Commercial College of Chi- 
cago. He entered upon his business career 
in the Bank of Fort Madi.son, the predeces- 
sor of the First National Bank, which in 
turn was succeeded by the Fort Madison 
Savings Bank. 1 le entered the institution 
as clerk, but his capability won ready recog- 
nition in successive promotions until he be- 
came cashier of the First National Bank. 
He acted in that capacity until compelled to 
resign his position in the active management 
of the institution on account of ill health. 
Subsequently the bank was merged into the 
Fort Madison Savings Bank, of which he 
was chosen vice-president and a director. 
Later in connection with D. A. Morrison 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



53 



he became one of the heavy stockholders in 
the German-American Bank, of which he 
was elected president. This has become one 
of the largest and most reliable banking in- 
stitutions of the city, its deposits exceeding 
that of any bank here. Hie business is 
constantly growing under the capable man- 
agement of Mr. Brewster and his colleagues, 
whose entire business career has connected 
him with banking interests, so that he has 
intimate and accurate knowledge of the 
business in its various departments. To 
other fields of labor Mr. Brewster extended 
his efforts, becoming the president of the 
Fort Madison Chair Company and at the 
present writing he is its vice-president. 
He is also interested in the Fort Madison 
Street Railway Com.pany, of which he is 
the treasurer and his financial interests rep- 
resent investments in other activities both 
mercantile and industrial. 

Mr. Brewster was married to Miss Eliza 
A. Merrill, of Burlington, Iowa, who died 
in 1887, leaving two children: Eugenia 
Starr, now the wife of Alba Garrott, of 
Frankfort, Indiana: and Charles Merrill. 
In 1889 he wedded Miss Daisy McClurg, 
a daughter of Leander INIcClurg. a promi- 
nent attorney of that city. ]\Ir. anrl Mrs. 
Brewster hold membership in the Presby- 
terian church of Fort Madison, of which he 
is a trustee. Theirs is one of the beautiful 
homes of the city situated on Third street. 
It was erected in 1895 '"""1 '^ justly cele- 
brated for its generous and attractive hospi- 
tality. In matters' of citizenship Mr. 
Brewster is progressive and public-spirited 
and although never an aspirant for political 
office he served for many years as school 



treasurer of Fort Madison and the cause of 
education has ever found in him a stanch 
friend. He votes with the Republican party 
and fraternally he is connected with the 
Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. 



JOHN W. PHILPOTT, M. D. 

Dr. John \\'. Philpott, one of the lead- 
ing physicians and surgeons of Lee county, 
located for practice at Fort Madison, for 
ten years surgeon of the Iowa State Peni- 
tentiary and also surgeon for several rail- 
road companies, has risen to distinction 
through the avenue of opportunity which is 
open to all, and today stands in a com- 
manding position that he has gained through 
close study and conscientious effort, result- 
ing in marked capability. He was born in 
Xew London, Henry county, Iowa, De- 
cemlier 24, 1857, ^"^^ 's a son of Dr. J. H. 
and Louisa M. ( Farrar) Philpott. The 
father was born in Kentucky, where he spent 
his early years and as a young man he 
came to Iowa, completing his education in 
this state. Entering upon preparation for 
the medical profession he read under a pre- 
ceptor in Burlington. Iowa, and subsequently 
entered the ]\Iiami Medical College at Cin- 
cinnati, from which he was graduated. He 
then located for practice in Xew London, 
Iowa, where his professional career covered 
a period of fifty years, during which time 
he long maintained a foremost place in the 
ranks of the medical fraternity, his ac- 



54 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



knowledged ability leading to a large pat- 
ronage. His political support was given to 
the Republican party. In early manhood 
he married jMiss Farrar. who was born near 
.Ruthland, Vermont, and when a young lady 
came to Iowa with her parents. INIr. and 
Mrs. Philetus Farrar, who were pioneer 
residents of Henry county. Dr. and Mrs. 
J. H. Philpott are still residents of Xew 
London. 

John W. Philpott is indebted to the 
public schools of his native city for the early 
educational privileges which he enjoyed. He 
read medicine with his father and pursued 
a course of lectures in the University of Ver- 
mont at Burlington, completing his studies 
tliere by graduation with the class of 1878. 
He afterward pursued a hospital course in 
New York city and then opened an office 
in Danville. Iowa, where he remained until 
1887. during which time he built up an 
extensive countn,- practice that brought him 
wide and varied experience and called into 
play an extended knowledge of the principles 
of metiicine. \\'hile residing there he was 
a member of the Des Moines County Medi- 
cal Society and was serving on its board 
of censors at the time of his removal from 
the county. 

Dr. Philpott has been identitied with the 
medical profession in Fort iladison since 
1887. Seeking a broader field he established 
his office in this city, where he has pro- 
gressed until he occupies a foremost position 
in the ranks of tlie medical fraternity here. 
In addition to an extensive private practice 
he has for ten years served as surgeon of 
the Iowa State Penitentiarj- and he is also 
surgeon for the Chicago, Burlington & 



Ouincy Railroad Company, the St. Louis, 
Keokuk & Northwestern Railroad Company 
and the I'ort Madison Street Railway Com- 
pany. He is likewise examiner for several 
of the leading life insurance companies and 
he belongs to the Lee County Medical So- 
ciety, of which he is one of the charter mem- 
ber.-^, the Iowa State Medical Society, the 
American Medical .Association and the Iowa 
Railway Surgeons' Association. 

Dr. Philpott's study of the political ques- 
tions and issues of the day has led to his 
earnest support of Republican principles. 
Fraternally he is connected with Delta Com- 
mandery. Knights Templar, and was at one 
time identified with the lower divisions of 
the order, but from this has demitted. He 
was married March 19. 1881. to Miss Lucy 
Bollinger, a daughter of Alexander Bol- 
linger, of Burlington Junction, Missouri, 
and they now have one son, Dr. Austin Flint 
Philpott, who is a graduate of the College 
of Physicians and Surgeons at St. Louis. 
Missouri, and now cit}- physician of Fort 
Madison. 

Regarding his profession as a life work 
eminently worthy of his best efforts Dr. Phil- 
pott has given his time and attention almost 
exclusively to the practice of medicine and 
surger}- and to the acquirement of further 
knowledge concerning the science until he 
now has accurate and comprehensive un- 
derstanding of the great principles upon 
which it is based. A careful and con- 
scientious performance of his professional 
duties and the obligations which devolve 
upon him have gained him the confidence of 
the public, while his professional brethren 
acknowledge his worth. 



LEE COUNTY. IOWA. 



55 



MILWARD H. ROGERS. 

The life record of Milwanl H. Rogers 
covered more than eighty-one years, and 
the story of his life is that of an honoral)le 
man. who was active in business, loyal in 
citizenship and faithful to his friends. As 
the day with its morning of hope and 
promise, its noontide of activity and its even- 
ing of completed and successful effort ended 
in the grateful rest and quiet of the night, 
so was the life of this upright man. For 
six decades he remained a resident of Iowa, 
and while he won success through capably 
conducted business afifairs. he was always 
mindful of his duty to his fellowmen and 
of his obligation to his Maker. 

Milward H. Rogers was born in the city 
of London, England, March 19, 1819. the 
son of Thomas and Elizabeth Rogers, who 
were both of English birth. The son was 
christened in Saint Paul's church, London, 
and while an infant removed with his par- 
ents to Montgomery, in Wales, where he 
passed his early years and for a time at- 
tended school. In the fall of 1832 he accom- 
panied his parents to America, remaining 
in Xew York until the following spring, 
when the family journeyed westward and 
settled in Delaware county, Ohio. There 
the father died a few months later. — in Sep- 
tember. 1833. His wife survived him for 
a period of forty-nine years, her death oc- 
curring at the residence of her son in Lee 
county. Iowa, in the ninety-first year of lier 
age. She was a woman of fine mentality, 
had traveled extensively, and possessed a 
character of true refinement and culture. 
In 1840 Mr. Rogers removed from Dela- 



ware county, Ohio, to Lee county, Iowa, 
where for a time he rented land and en- 
gaged in farming, but later decided that 
he could more profitably employ his efforts 
in cutting and supplying wood for fuel for 
the Mississippi River steamlxjats, and ac- 
cordingly devoted some years to that oc- 
cupation with considerable pecuniary suc- 
cess. He also purchased wooded lands near 
the river and resold it to owners of boats, 
thus by his prompt grasp of a business situ- 
ation gaining a foothold in the new coun- 
try and obtaining the means necessary to 
give him a start in life. He first purchased 
land in section 13 of Green Bay township, 
and after a number of years devoted to other 
enterprises decided to give his entire atten- 
tion to fanning. This he did during the 
remainder of his life, and by his ability, 
care and unwavering fulfillment of duty he 
succeeded to an extraordinary degree and 
became one of the most extensive land- 
holders of the township, owning 1,465 acres 
of fertile and highly improved lands in one 
of the most lavishly productive agricultural 
regions of Iowa. Here he erected a mag- 
nificent brick residence, introduced modern 
methods and processes in farming, and con- 
structed numbers of barns, granaries and 
other buildings according to the most ap- 
l)roved scientific ideas, being of a supremely 
enterprising disposition and always a friend 
of progress. 

On March 24, 1842, he was united in 
marriage to Miss Susan Johnson, a daugh- 
ter of Sheppard and Ann (McDaniel) John- 
son. The father and mother of Mrs. Rogers 
were natives of Long Island, New York, and 
of Pennsylvania, respectively, and after 



56 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



their marriage settled in Hamilton county, 
Ohio, crossing the Mississippi in 1840 and 
locating in Green Bay township, where Mr. 
Johnson died two weeks after his arrival, — 
September 19, 1840. His wife survived him 
four years, her demise occurring April 23. 
1844, at the home of her daughter, Mrs. 
Rogers. Mrs. Rogers, who was the second 
of a family of six sons and daughters, was 
born in Hamilton county, Ohio, October 
21, 1819, and came with her parents to Lee 
county, Iowa, June 19, 1840. To Mr. and 
Mrs. Rogers were born se\en sons and one 
daughter, of whom four sons still survive, 
as follov.-s : Milward H., Jr., who married 
Miss Sarah E. Fry; Johnson; George E., 
and Arthur. Biographical notices of the 
last three will l)e found elsewhere in this 
volume. Those deceased are Milward S., 
Monroe, Rebecca A. and Thomas. 

Always taking a keen interest in public 
affairs, Mr. Rogers early gave his support 
to the Democratic party, an allegiance which 
he continued through life, and as a young 
man was prevailed upon to accept a number 
of public trusts, including the offices of drain 
commissioner, justice of the peace and county 
supervisor, he performing the duties of 
these positions with that conscientious de- 
votion to the welfare of the community in 
which he lived which characterized every- 
thing he did that could by any possibility 
affect his neighbors and friends. Ever 
ready to do the right as it was given him 
to see the right he, as also his devoted wife, 
was an active worker in the Christian 
church, and in that bod)' he acted as an elder 
for many years. His last years found him 
faithful, even as his whole life had been one 



beautiful illustration of Christian faith. He 
departed mortal life December 19, 1900, the 
wife and mother having preceded him to 
the better world on May 21st of the same 
year, the remains of husband and wife being 
laid at rest in Beebe cemetery in Green Bay 
township. They left a memoiy fragrant 
with Christian charity and good deeds, and 
they so lived that the work they did shall not 
pass away. Mr. Rogers was a strong and 
significant character, combining business 
ability of a high order with humanitarian 
principles, and while achieving a large suc- 
cess and securing for himself much material 
wealth, he contributed in an important meas- 
ure to the upbuilding of the county in which 
he passed the greater part of his life. He 
was widely known and respected wherever 
known, being regarded as a man of super- 
lative integritv and vast business abilitv. 



ANDREW J. WILKINSON. 

So closely was the life work of Andrew 
J. \\''ilkinson interwoven with the history of 
Keokuk's commercial and intellectual prog- 
ress that no record of the city would be com- 
plete withnut mention of him. No human 
character can be justly depicted with all 
his lights and shades duly touched and set 
forth in a thousand phrases or even in a 
few pages. How much more impossible to 
make clear the force of human character 
which has been involved in great affairs and 
upon which responsibilities have acted and 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



57". 



re-acted and which a large ami \-aried ex- 
perience has modified, educated and de- 
veloped and yet this is what the historian 
essays in attempting to portray the life of 
Andrew J. Wilkinson. He lived a life of 
his time amply, knew humanity in its many 
piiases and had wide sympathy as well as 
waried iiUerests. 

A native of Rhode Island, he was horn 
in Foster township, Provence county. May 
20, i<S30. After his father's death and when 
he was yet a }oung lad he removed with 
liis mother to Lonsdale, later to Providence 
and afterward to Richmond, Rhode Island, 
and to provide for his own sujjport he se- 
cured employment as a farm laborer near 
the last-named place. His educational op- 
portunities were limited, but the few he 
had he improved to the best of his ability. 
When fourteen years of age he became an 
employe in his brother's store in Troy. New- 
York, and subsequently spent some time in 
connection with mercantile interests in New 
York city, but the great and growing West 
attracted him and he wisely chose this sec- 
tion as his scene of action. Arriving in 
Keokuk in 1856 he invested the capital 
which he had previously seaired 
through his unremitting diligence and 
careful management in the purchase of 
a wholesale and retail drug business, for- 
merly the property of Horace Ayres. In 
this enterprise he was associated with a 
partner, Richard Marshall and the firm of 
Wilkinson &• Marshall conducted the busi- 
ness for about a year. In 1857. however. 
he purchased Mr. Marshall's interest and 
was alone until 1864, when the firm of 
Wilkinson, Bartlett & Company was formed. 



his partners being George F. Bartlett and 
J. F. Kiedaisch. These gentlemen were to- 
gether for seventeen years, when in 1887 
Mr. Bartlett retired and the firm style of 
Wilkinson & Company was assumed, being 
maintained up to the death of Mr. Wilkin- 
son, since which time the Wilkinsun Drug 
Company has Ijecn incorporated. Fver 
watchful of indications pointing to suc- 
cess, ]Mr. Wilkinson conducted his mercan- 
tile affairs along progressive lines in keep- 
ing with modern thought and in touch with 
the wonderful business development that 
has been characteristic of this age. More- 
over, his business integrity stood as an un- 
questioned fact in his career. He was ever 
liberal in his dealings, considerate of his 
enijiloyes and thoroughy reliable so that 
the drug house, with which he was con- 
nected ever sustained an unassailable reputa- 
tion. 

On the 13th of July, 1859, Mr. Wilkin- 
son was united in marriage to Miss Willia 
Thompson, the wedding being celebrated at 
the home of her father. Colonel William 
Thdmpsiin. a distinguished son of Kentucky, 
who might well have been called one of 
nature's noblemen. He inherited an es- 
tate consisting of valuable property interests 
and many slaves, but being an o])]»nent of 
the system of slavery he sent as many of his 
negroes as he could to Liberia, the expense 
of their transportation being forty thousand 
dollars in addition to the value of the slaves. 
In 1857 he removed to Keokuk and invested 
extensively in real estate, erecting the bank 
building at the corner of Second and Main 
streets now occupied by the Iowa State In- 
surance Company at a cost of twenty-two 



58 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



thousand dollars. He had previously been 
an agriculturist and was not used to northern 
business methods of loaning money, having 
up to this time lived in Kentucky, where 
"every man is believed honest until proven 
otherwise." He therefore loaned money 
unwisely and in the financial panic which 
swept o\'er the country he lost all his pos- 
sessions. After a time he removed to Pa- 
latka. Florida, where he engaged in the 
practice of law until his death, which oc- 
curred in 190 1. His remains were brought 
back to Keokuk for burial and were interred 
in Oakland cemetery. He was a man of 
luost kindly nature and bn.)a(l humanitarian 
spirit and he was continually exerting his 
efiforts to ameliorate the difficult conditions 
which are found in life. Unto Mr. and 
Mrs. Wilkinson were born four sons and 
two daughters, four of whom are yet living : 
Dr. George Wilkinson, a resident of Omaha, 
Nebraska ; W. T. Wilkinson, of Ottumwa : 
Burton Wilkinson, of Keokuk; and Miss 
Mary J. \Vilkinson, of this city. 

The position which Mr. Wilkinson oc- 
cupied in Keokuk aside from his business 
relations was one commanding the highest 
respect. His patriotism was a character- 
istic that led him to take deep interest in 
the welfare and progress of the nation as 
well as of his home locality. In 1861 when 
the country became involved in civil war, 
although he did not have the rugged strength 
required nf thusc who went to the front he 
manifested his loyalty to the Union in many 
wa* s. He 1)ecame one of the charter mem- 
!>ers of the old City Reserves and in that 
connection was frequently called upon to 
protect the Ixirder and was with his com- 



pany at the battle of Athens, Missouri. His 
aid was never sought in vain in behalf of 
any mo\-ement which he believed would con- 
trilnite to public progress or to the perma- 
nent good of Keokuk. His efforts in be- 
half of jjublic education were particularly 
beneficial. He served for almost eighteen 
years as a member of the board of education 
and did all in his power to promote the ef- 
ficiency of the schools and to raise the stand- 
ard (if ])uljlic instruction for he justly con- 
sidered the best educated man makes the 
best citizen. In 1871 he was chosen a mem- 
ber of the school board, serving at that time 
for three years and again in 1881 he was 
called to the office and continued therein 
until his death. Another matter of deep in- 
terest to him was the public library, which 
owed its existence in large measure to his 
efforts, for he was one of the originators of 
the plan and the organizers of the library in 
1863. He was chosen its first president by 
election and re-elected both in 1864 and 
1865. He continued a member of its lioard 
of directors throughout his entire life and 
when the library was made a free institution 
in the summer of 1894 Mayor Moorhead 
appointed hiiu a member of the new board. 
Rv his fellow members he was chosen pres- 
ident and was acting in that ca])acity at the 
time of his demise. The first certificate of 
life membershiji was issued to him on the 
1st of May, i8(')4, and it is now amc^ng the 
treasures in the custody of the lilirarian. 
His fellow citizens accorded him recogni- 
tion of his personal worth, his public spirit 
and his devotion to the general good by 
electing him to the ofiice of alderman, where 
he served in 1867-8. The following year 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



59 



he was elected maynr and thus cmitroUed 
the nuinici])al interests for one term. He 
held memljershii) in Atlantic Lodge. Xo. 
178, Free <1nd Accepted Alasons, of New 
York city, the Northwestern Travel- 
ing; Men's Association, the Knights 
of Honor, the Loyal Legion and the 
Ancient Order of LJnited Workmen, but 
the membership which claimed most of his 
time and energies was his church relation- 
ship. He was a communicant and vestry- 
man of St. John's Episcopal church and 
aided in large measure in the development 
and growth of tlie church when it was es- 
talilished near his residence. His broad hu- 
manitarian s])irit was manifest in his active 
and unostentatious charity. None knew the 
extend of bis benevolences for while he gave 
freely be never boasted of his generosity 
and, in fact, there were times when not 
e\en the recipients of his bounty knew to 
whom they were indebted for timely aid. 
fie was uniformly courteous and his gentle- 
manly demeanor made him a man whom to 
know was to respect and honor. He passed 
away after an illness of three months, al- 
though for onl_\- a few days was he con- 
fined to his home, his death ocairring Jan- 
uary 7. iS<;3. Resolutions of respect were 
passed b\- the various organizations with 
\\hich he had been closely associated, in- 
cluding the lodges and the public lilirary 
board. The city council passed the follow- 
ing resolutions : 

"in the broad sweep which it is making 
among those who wear a crown of honor 
in our city the scythe of death has reached 
and cut down the faithful, courteous and 
conscientious .\ndrew J. Wilkinson. 



"It is no mere formal manner that we 
take this occasion to sliow our respect for 
him. When a man who has lived as Mr. 
Wilkinson has, who has, through long years, 
constantly chosen the right, the good, the 
honest, the sincere, and who. as a result, 
carries the honor, the confidence and the 
fa\-or of his fellows — when such a man is 
taken men do not merely show the outward 
garb of sorrow. He carries down with 
him men's hearts. In the lack of his counsel 
and example men feel tliat the}- have sus- 
tained a loss. 

"The influence of Mr. Wilkinson's life 
has for many years been strongly felt in the 
religious, educational, political and social 
work of Keokuk. In 1869 he was thought 
worthy of the honor and was elected mayor 
of the city. For years be has been a zealous 
worker for the public library and when that 
institution was by the city made free to all 
the mayor appointed Mr. Wilkinson a mem- 
ber of the Ixiard of trustees, of which tody 
lie was chosen to be president, and which 
office is vacated by his death. 

"In respect to him. who. through so 
manv years and in so many ways has served 
his city and his fellowman. l)e it 

"Resolved, That this council do now 
rise until Thursday evening. January 10. 
after the bodv of ex-Mayor Wilkinson has 
been laid to re.st." 

One who knew him well, said : "He bad 
been for many years one of the chief busi- 
ness men of Keokuk. He was a gixid and 
lovable man. He lived his life in 'the Iieauty 
of holiness;' not cant or religious pretense: 
there was not a particle of that in him ; but 
all iiis life he simply did to others as he 



6o 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



would have them do to him. He seemed 
incapable of selfishness. He was gentle, 
gracious, kindly, courteous, considerate, 
obliging, helpful and yet fixed and resolute 
in his convictions. He could say 'no' as 
firmly as an}^ man we ever knew. We have 
many times had occasion to admire the high 
and punctilious sense of official duty, ex- 
actness and thoroughness he took to the 
discharge of any public trust that fell to 
hiiu. His pervading integrity, sincerity and 
dignity made him do all his work without 
paltriness or slighting. It was a delight 
to \x associated with him on the school board 
or anywhere. His high courtesy, kindness, 
calm but fixed regard for justice and the 
properties of life made it so that his re- 
spect for the personality of every one per- 
vaded any meeting with the atmosphere of 
good will and gracious comradship. Human 
nature is a rather lofty matter after all or 
there would not be so many really noble 
men and women as there are. We say what 
is simply true when we say that the parting 
breath of .Vudrew J. Wilkinson ended one 
of the best and most l)eautiful lives that have 
ever been in Keokuk." 



THOMAS J. MAXWELL, M. D. 

Dr. Thomas J. Maxwell, one of the most 
eminent surgeons of Iowa, one of the or- 
ganizers of St. Joseph's Hospital of Keokuk 
and i^rofessor of surgery and clinical sur- 
gery in the Keokuk College of Medicine, 



College of Physicians and Surgeons, of 
Keukuk, v.as born in New Athens, Harri- 
son county, Ohio, March 6, 1837. His par- 
ents were John and Jane (Orr) Maxwell. 
The father was born near Wheeling, West 
Virginia, was a representative of one of 
the old families there and in 1804 accom- 
panied his father, Thomas Maxwell, on his 
reniDval to Ohio, where he attained his ma- 
jiirity and was married to Miss Orr, who 
was born in Washington county, Pennsyl- 
vania, and had gone to New Athens, Ohio, 
with her father. Robert Orr. and his fam- 
ily. In early life John Maxwell mastered 
the trades of a wheelwright and cabinet- 
maker and followed those pursuits in Ohio. 
In 1842 he visited Iowa on a prospecting 
tour and in 1844 he brought his family 
to this state, locating in Crawfordsville, 
Washington county, where he continued to 
work at the millwright's trade, building 
many mills throughout that section of the 
state. There his death occurred in 1871 
and his wife passed away in 1885. They 
were members of the United Presbyterian 
church and their influence was strongly felt 
on the substantial and moral development 
of the community in which they made their 
home. 

Dr. Maxwell, when seven years of age. 
accompanied his parents to Iowa and pur- 
sued his liter.arA- education in the district 
schools and in the academv of Crawfords- 
ville, after which he engaged in teaching in 
Wa.shington county, \\1iile thus engaged 
he determined upon the practice of medicine 
as a life work, and to this end began study- 
ing with Dr. J. D. Miles, a highly educated 
and skillful ]ih_\-sician, as his preceptor. He 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



6i 



pursued lecture courses in Keokuk, in what 
was then known as the medical department 
of the University of Iowa, and was grad- 
uated in Febniary, 1861. 

Dr. ]^Iaxwell located for practice in Wash- 
ington county, Iowa, but in 1862 he was 
commissioned assistant surgeon in the Third 
Iowa Cavalry, continuing in charge of the 
field practice with that regiment until 1865. 
The command participated in many hotly 
contested engagements, resulting in the ne- 
cessity for much surgical treatment. In 1865 
Dr. Maxwell was transferred from the 
Third Iowa Cavaln,- to the One Hundred 
and Thirty-eighth colored regiment as sur- 
geon, with the rank of major, and he was 
mustered out under order given by the war 
department in Januar\-, 1866. 

Returning to Washington county, Iowa, 
Dr. Maxwell then made arrangements to 
remove to Olena, Henderson county, Illi- 
nois, where he built up a large country prac- 
tice, that made his labor financially as well 
as professionally successful, but in 1882, de- 
sirous of putting aside the very arduous 
duties involved in such a practice, he re- 
moved to Keokuk and opened an office. Al- 
though he began here as a general prac- 
titioner the demands made upon him for 
surgical work soon made him a specialist in 
that line, and his superior skill gained him 
eminence that has since ranked him with 
the leading surgeons of the state. He has 
performed many capital operations and has 
the honor of having first successfully per- 
formed the operation for the removal of an 
ovarian tumor in Iowa, resulting in the re- 
covery of the patient. He continued to 
enjoy a very large and important surgery 



practice until 1885, since which time his at- 
tention has been given chiefly to education 
labor in the line of his profession. In that 
year he became lecturer on state medicine 
and hygiene in the College of Physicians and 
Surgeons and subsequently was given the 
chair of clinical surgery, while later he was 
made professor of anatomy and ocaipied 
that chair for four years. His next posi- 
tion was the professorship of obstetrics and 
gynecology, but on the return of the former 
ocaipant of the chair he gave up the de- 
partment of obstetrics, continuing, how- 
ever, to lecture on g\'necologA' and anatomy. 
In 1890, in connection with Dr. Jen- 
kins and a few other noted members of the 
profession. Dr. Maxwell assisted in found- 
ing Keokuk Medical College and became 
professor of surgen- and clinical surger)', 
ocaipying that posilicn until the Keokuk 
]\Tedical College bought out the College of 
Physicians and Surgeons and the two insti- 
tutions were consolidated, the new school be- 
ing known as the Keokuk Medical College, 
College of Physicians and Surgeons. Dr. 
Maxwell continued to fill the chair of sur- 
gery and clinical surgery and at the same 
time has contributed in substantial meas- 
ure to the success of the school through his 
efforts to advance its standard and promote 
its efficiency. He has seen old methods su- 
perseded by new and improved ones and the 
college has kept pace with the universal 
progress that has marked the medical pro- 
fession, no greater advancement being made 
in anv line of scientific research and investi- 
gation. Dr. Maxwell is also connected with 
the dental department of the college and 
has seen great growth in the attendance in 



62 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



recent years, a fact indicative of its rank as 
an institution for the training of those who 
desire to become active members of the pro- 
fession. 

Dr. Maxwell was a member of the Illi- 
nois State Medical Society and the Military 
Tract Medical Society and now belongs to 
the Keokuk Medical and Iowa State Medi- 
cal Societies, both of which he has been the 
president. He likewise belongs to the 
American Medical Association and is the 
author of various papers of merit and of 
value to the profession which he has read 
before these different organizations. He is 
now ]jreparing a book for publication upon 
the treatment of intra-capsular fractures, 
such as fractures inside the hip joint, hav- 
ing devised a method of healing which was 
previously thought to l>e an incurable frac- 
ture of the hip joint. He has treated many 
cases successfully and his discovery has 
proven of the greatest benefit in surgery. 
He was active in founding St. Joseph's 
Hospital and since its establishment has 
been surgeon-in-chief. 

Dr. Maxwell married Miss Elizabeth 
Riley, who was born in Ohio, in 1866, and 
they became the parents of six children, but 
Mabel died at the age of twenty years and 
two clied in earlv childhood. The living 
children are Maude, Helen and John R. Tlie 
son is a graduate of the Illinois University 
at Champaign and of the Keokuk Medical 
College and is now professor of anatomy 
and clinical surgery in the Keokuk College 
of Medicine. The Doctor has a beautiful 
and hospitable home at No. 727 North Ninth 
street, in Keokuk. He is a member of Tor- 
rence Post, Grand .\rmy of the Republic 



and of the Loyal Legion and in his 
political views is a Republican. He 
took an active part in politics while 
in Illinois and was there candidate for 
senator but the district was strongly Dem- 
ocratic. The demands of his profession now 
leave him little time for outside interests, 
and his labors as medical and surgical prac- 
titioner, lecturer and author have made his 
life work of marked value to his fellowman. 



JOHN R. DIMOND. 

In \'arious official positions John R. 
Diniond has demonstrated his loyalty and 
his public-spirited citizenship and at the 
present writing is capably serving as city, 
county and state assessor for Keokuk and 
Lee county. He was born in Louisville, 
Kentucky, June 17, 1841, his parents being 
John and Elizabeth (Rudy) Dimond. The 
father was born in Londonderry, Ireland, in 
May, 1806, and there learned the shoe- 
maker's trade. When twenty-one years of 
age he left his native countiy and crossed 
the Atlantic, establishing his home in Buf- 
falo, New ^'nrk, but soon afterward he re- 
moved to Louis\-ille, Kentucky, where he 
followed his trade for .some time and was 
also engaged in the shoe business. He like- 
wise conducted what was known as a shoe- 
maker's boarding house, the third story be- 
ing fitted up as a shop for the boarders, to 
which thev might take their custom work 




MK. AN'I) MRS. JOHN R. OlMOND 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



65 



and finish it. Mr. Dimond, taking; an active 
part ill Democratic politics in the Soutli. was 
made turni<ey or jailer fur Louisville, and 
occupied that position for a number of years. 
At length he disposed of his business in- 
terests there and in the spring nf 1H34 re- 
moved with his famih' to Keokuk, where 
he worked for a time as a journeyman, but 
in 1858 he again entered , business for him- 
self. At one time he was the owner of three 
farms in Hancock county. Illinois, but (-^n 
selling this in\ested the money in Keokuk 
property and opened a custom shop on Main 
street, where he continued in business un- 
til his retirement in 1890. He also improved 
considerable city property here and in his 
investments and different business ventures 
dis])layed the possession of strong sagacity. 
able management and unabating energy. 
His political \iews undergoing a change, he 
voted the Republican ticket from 1S60 until 
in his later years, when he ga\e his al- 
legiance to the Greenback party. 

In early manhood he wedded Elizabeth 
Rudy, who was born in Philadelphia. Penn- 
sylvania, March 12. 1806, a daughter of 
John and Susan (Lusley) Rudy. During 
her girlhood her parents removed to Mays- 
ville, Kentucky, where her father engaged 
in contracting and buikling. Her maternal 
grandfather. Capt. Robert Lusley, was a 
soldier of the Revolutionary War and was a 
member of the Lusley family that was es- 
tablished in Philadelphia in 1734. He is 
mentioned in the history of the landing of 
the Palatines at that period. Mr. Dimond 
passed away February 2, 1892, his wife sur- 
viving him until the 7th of May, 1896. 
They were members of the Unitarian 



church ;uid tlie\- left a familv of ti\e chil- 
tlren. John R. Dimond ha\'ing aci|uired his 
education in the city schools of Louisville 
and Keokuk. Iowa, entered u]K)n his business 
career in the employ of General Brown, at 
the age of thirteen years, keeping the first 
toll gate on the ]ilank road from Keokuk to 
Charleston. He was afterward for some 
years employed in a brick yard and this busi- 
ness experience brought him splendid physi- 
cal development. He afterward learned the 
shoemaker's trade and in 1838 he enlisted 
in the regular army for service on the plains, 
but his father objected to this course and 
he was thereby compelled to remain at home. 
Militarv serxice, however, was not denied 
him for at the outbreak of the Civil War he 
responded to President Lincoln's call for 
75,000 troops, joining the.fir.st three-year 
regiment which enlisted in response to that 
call. He was about the tenth man in Keo- 
kuk to be enrolled. The troops drilled for 
some time but they missed being accepted in 
-the first regiment, as only one Iowa regi- 
ment was called for the three UKinths' quota. 
On replving to a telegram to the w.ar de- 
partment they were informed that they 
would be accepted for three years in a call 
soon to be made. Having enlisted on the 
i(;th of April. iSfn, they were sworn in for 
three vears' service on the 27th of May, 
i8f)i, Mr, Dimond being a member of Com- 
panv A, Second Iowa Infantry, This was 
the first regiment, however, to leave the 
state. They went to St, Joseph, Missouri, 
and did guard duty on the Hannibal & St. 
Joseph Railroad for two months, when they 
were sent to Bird's Point, Missouri, and 
from there to Sulphur Springs, and on to 



66 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



Pilot Knob. Joining Fremont, they started 
on a march to Cape Girardeau and in Oc- 
tober, 1861, arrived at Benton Barracks, St. 
Louis, in order to recruit, for there were only 
200 men in the regiment who were not ill. 
Mr. Dimond was sent home on a furlough, 
after which he reported at McDowell's Col- 
lege, St. Louis, and guarded rebel prisoners 
through the winter. In February he went 
to Fort Donelson and was in the famous 
charge at that place on the 15th of the 
month, where the Union troops captured and 
held the rifle pits. Mr. Dimond being frozen 
during the night was sent to the hospital 
and was there detained as a nurse. He re- 
turned to his regiment about a week after 
the battle of Shiloh, which was the only 
battle of his command in which he was not 
an active participant. He was at Corinth in 
1862, the battle of luka, the second battle 
of Corinth and afterward went to Pulaski, 
Tennessee, under General Dodge, where he 
was detained as scout and was thus serving 
until he went to Chattanooga, where he 
joined Sherman's army. He took part in 
the battles of Dalton and Resaca and made 
the first crossing at the Oustenola river. He 
was also in the engagements at Peach Tree 
Creek. Crab Orchard, Dallas and at At- 
lanta, the Second Iowa Regiment ocaipying 
the position on the extreme left of the army. 
He was also in the seige of Atlanta and after 
the engagement at Rome, Georgia, went on 
the celebrated march to the sea and partici- 
pated in the various militar}' movements 
around Savannah. Later the regiment 
started northward on the campaign through 
the Carolinas and Mr. Dimond was in all 
of the engagements up to the close of the 



war. He was the first man who veteranized 
from the State of Iowa and was then made 
corporal. He participated in the grand re- 
view at Washington, District of Columbia, 
and received an honorable discharge, July 
19, 1865, after four years and three months 
of meritorious service in the South. He has 
every reason to be proud of his military 
record, for he never faltered in the per- 
formance of any duty and liravely took his 
place on the lonely picket line or on the 
firing line. He suffered the usual hard- 
ships and rigors of war and cheerfully gave 
his .services to his country that the integrity 
of the Union might be preserved. 

Mr. Dimond after being discharged 
started for Rockford, Illinois, and was mar- 
ried to Miss Sarah Carpenter of that place, 
the wedding being celebrated July 31, 1865. 
Thev traxeled life's journey together for 
more than a quarter of a century and Mrs. 
Dimond then passed away on the 9th of 
June, 1891, leaving sev«n children: Airs. 
Alice Mundy: James H., of Evansville, In- 
diana; Xellie, the wife of Thomas McGin- 
nis, of Indianapolis, Indiana; Oscar C. of 
St. Louis ; Jessie, of Mount Pleasant, Iowa ; 
George I., of Quincy, Illinois, and Sadie, 
also of Mount Pleasant, Iowa. On the 7th 
of November, 1900, Mr. Dimond was again 
married, his second union being with Mrs. 
Dorothv Jester, a daughter of Abel Mor- 
ris, of Wayland, Missouri. She was the 
mother of two children by her first marriage. 
Mabel and Leota, who reside at home. 

Reaching Keokvik after his marriage, 
Mr. Dimond was employed by his father in 
the shoe business and in 1867 engaged in 
business for himself, continuing in that line 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



67 



for twelve years. He afterward turned his 
attention to the grocery business and for five 
years was storekeeper for the workingmen's 
co-operatixe grocery and for eiglit years 
conducted a grocery .store of his own. He 
next turned liis attentiou to tile insurance 
business and was afterward variously em- 
ployed until 1898, when he was elected state 
and county assessor for Keokuk. He has 
since occupied that i)osition and has also been 
state and county and city assessor for the 
City of Keokuk since 1900. Other local of- 
fices he has filled, having been a member of 
the city council from 1878 until 1880. Xo 
public trust reposed in him has e\er been 
betrayed in the slightest degree and now 
for six years he has served in his ])resent 
office, discharging his duties in a manner 
creditable to himself and satisfactory to his 
constituents. At the general election of 
1904 Mr. Dimond was elected, without o])- 
position, again to the office of state and 
county assessor. He is a member of Belk- 
nap Post. Xo. 515, Grand Army of the Re- 
public, of which he is now serving as Com- 
mander and he has attended both the state 
and national encampments. He has a pleas- 
ant home at the corner of Xinth and P'alean 
streets and throughout Lee county has a 
wide and favorable acquaintance. He is 
today as true to his duties of citizenship as 
when he wore the blue uniform of the na- 
tion and followed the starry banner on the 
battlefields of the South, His integrity as 
a citizen and as a business man lia\e never 
been called into question and he commands 
the uniform confidence and good will of all 
with whom he has been associated. 



JOHN MENZ. 

A successful business man of Keokuk 
and one of the most prominent" political 
leaders of Lee county, is John Menz, now 
serving his third term as county treasurer. 
Mr. Menz was born near the village of Suhl, 
Prussia. Germany, January 12, 1829, and is 
the son of Christopher and Elizabeth 
(Alunk) Menz. Leaving their native land 
to seek the superior opportunities of a new 
and undeveloped country, the family came 
to America, landing at X^ew Orleans Xo- 
veniber 28, 1853. They ascended the Mis- 
sissippi river to St. Louis, and located at 
Highland. Illinois, where the father passed 
the remainder of his life. 

John Menz received a good general ed- 
ucation in Germany, and in addition at- 
tended a training school and was educated 
as an architect, but in .\merica found little 
demand for the work of his profession. For 
a time, however, he was associated with 
his father in his business as a contractor, but 
began his independent business career as 
the proprietor of a general store at High- 
land. Illinois. In this venture he was quite 
successful, but sold out in 1876. and re- 
mcned to Keokuk, where lie purchased the 
Eagle hotel, which he conducted for a num- 
ber of years. This proved to be very profit- 
able enterprise. 

In 1889 Mr. Menz was elected, against 
his own expressed wish, by the Democratic 
party as county and citv as.sessor. He ac- 
cepted the office, and continued to ]ierform 
its duties with credit to himself until 1893. 
In September. 1893 he was appointed by the 



68 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



board of supervisors to fill an unexpired 
term as deputy county treasurer. This po- 
sition he held until 1899. when he received 
the nomination for county treasurer at the 
hands of the Democratic party, was elected, 
and has been twice re-elected, a fact which 
speaks loudly for his capability and integ- 
ritv, as well as his popularity. The posi- 
tion is one of the highest importance, large 
amounts of money, approximately $160,000 
each year, passing through his hands. 

Mr. Menz is influential in Democratic 
circles, and has often served the party as del- 
egate to the state conventions. He was at 
one time ]M-ominently connected with vari- 
ous fraternal organizations, but being fre- 
quently elected to offices in these orders, 
and finding the demands upon his time in- 
terfered with his public duties, he has al- 
lowed these relations to lapse. 

Mr. Menz was united in marriage to 
Miss Christina Steiner of Highland, Illinois, 
a native of Switzerland, and they are the 
parents of six children, as follows : Mrs. 
Louisa Haines ; Mrs. Emily Kraft, of Bur- 
lington. Iowa; Mrs. Milda Kraft, of Keo- 
kuk : Ella, who is now living at her father's 
home: Mrs. Ida Atwood, deceased, and 
Robert ].. president of the ]\Ienz Lumber 
Company, a prominent business house of 
Minneapolis, Minnesota. 

Coming to the United States without 
resources, unaided- and by his own efiforts 
and talents climbing tlie ladder of success. 
the achievements of Mr. Menz form a lesson 
in self-help worthy of studious considera- 
tion by all younger men. Of strong char- 
acter and unbending integrity, he is hon- 
ored anrl respected by all. 



LEWIS WALTER. 

Lewis Walter, a leading citizen of Don- 
nellson, Iowa, and postmaster at that place, 
was born ]March 31, 1842, in Venango 
county, Pennsylvania, the son of P. H. and 
Mary (Cole) Walter. Although both his 
parents were l)orn in Pennsylvania, the 
father was of German and the mother of 
Irish extraction, and. combining in them- 
seh'es many of the highest and best char- 
acteristics of their respective nationalities, 
they successfully overcame the adverse con- 
ditions of pioneer life in the West, and while 
ac(|uiring a competence, at the same time 
they achieved for themselves a position of 
recognized standing in the community, l>eing 
respected by all who knew them. Early 
forming a resolution to bear a share in the 
conquest of the vast and wealthy region 
west of the Mississippi river, they set out 
from their eastern home in the year 1857, 
and after an arduous wagon journey of 
twenty-eight days arrived in Des Moines 
county. Iowa; and in the fall of that year 
they purchased a farm of 160 acres in 
Franklin township. Lee county. There they 
improved the land and pursued the vocation 
of farming until the early seventies, when 
the\' disposed of their holdings in order to 
jiurchase a farm near Dover in the same 
township, on which they resided for a num- 
ber of years, selling it later, however, and 
buying a small farm in that neighborhood 
on which the remainder of their days were 
passed in the enjo}-ment of the well-earned 
fruits of their long and faithful toil. Much 
honor is due them for the part they played 
in the early development of Iowa, and it 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



69 



is with eminent fitness that a record of their 
Hves and deeds is here inscribed in loving 
remembrance and veneration. Mr. W'aher 
attained to (juite a degree of jirominence 
in local public affairs, being an active worker 
in the ranks of the Democratic party and 
having held the office of assessor and a 
number of minor elective positions of tmst 
and honor, and enjoying a wide acquaint- 
ance anil popularity. Ever striving for the 
triumph of humanity's higher interests, he 
and his wife were active members of the 
Methodist Episcopal church, and did much 
to advance its welfare. The remains of 
both rest in Clay Grove cemetery. 

Two brothers and two sisters of Mr. 
Walter, our subject, attained to years of 
maturity. Jesse Carroll, the eldest, is now- 
deceased. He was a prominent member of 
the Lee county bar, and at one time held 
the office of county auditor, and was a vet- 
eran of the Civil War, having served with 
the Thirteenth Iowa Volunteer Infantry. 
He .was a man of brilliant endowments and 
extraordinary ability. Mar\- A., the elder 
sister, is the widow of Henry Jefferson, and 
resides at Cedar Falls, Iowa. Kate G., 
who is the fourth in order of birth, is the 
widow of Francis H. Semple, formerly a 
prominent attorney of Keokuk, and is a 
resident of Cliicago. George R., the young- 
est, is also deceased, his demise having oc- 
airred in 1903. 

The early educational advantages of 
I^wis Walter were limited to those of the 
public schools in his native state of Peim- 
sylvania, and practically ended in his fif- 
teenth year when he accompanied iiis par- 
ents to Iowa. Init l)eing of a studious dis- 



position he made the most of his opportu- 
nities, and by following an instinctive love 
of knowledge qualified himself for many 
]^ositi()ns o{ honor and usefulness in his 
later life. The days of his youth were de- 
\'oted to the exacting duties of his father's 
farm, in which lie continued until the call 
of patriotism drew his attention from peace- 
ful pursuits and he went forth to serve his 
coimtry in the cause of freedom, justice 
and national unity. In 1862 he enlisted in 
comjiany "E, " Nineteenth Iowa \'olunteer 
Infantry, at Fort Madison under Captain 
William Adams. The first nine months of 
his service were spent in the department of 
the Frontier, and it was during this period 
that he participated in the famous battle of 
Prairie Grove. Later he participated in the 
siege of Vicksburg, after which he was trans- 
ferred to the department of fiulf, and on 
September 29, 1863, the entire regiment, 
consisting of 206 men, were captured by a 
superior number of Confederate forces at 
Sterling Farm, Louisiana, and held as 
]jrisoners of war. first at Tyler, Texas, 
and later at Shreveport, Louisiana. 
.\t the latter place they were ex- 
changed on July 22 of tlic follow- 
ing year, after suffering many h.-u-dshijis 
in prison, and rejoined the Union army un- 
der General Canby. taking part in the nu- 
merous engagements of the campaigni which 
culminated in the fall of Mobile, at which 
place our sul)ject was honorably discharged 
with the rank of sergeant, having earned 
that military grade by meritorious service 
in camp and on the field of battle. 

L'pon the close of hostilities Mr. Walter 
returned home, and sliortlv after was united 



7° 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



in marriage to Miss Martha Adeline Walker, 
daughter of Milton Walker, a highly re- 
spected citizen and early pioneer settler of 
Iowa. For a year after his marriage he 
cultivated his father's farm, but owing to 
the low state of his health, which had been 
much impaired by the life of southern pris- 
ons, camps and fields, he was compelled to 
abandon the work, and for a number of years 
followed successfully the profession of 
teaching. Later he was interested at inter- 
vals for the space of ten years in mer- 
cantile enterprises at West Point and at 
Dover, and also completed a course of read- 
ing in law. but did not apply for admission 
to practice in the courts. On removing to 
DonnelLson he spent two years in teach- 
ing, and subsequently became the first editor 
of the Lee Count)- Record, published at 
this place, of which he afterward became 
owner but which he has since sold. At one 
time he was also an editorial writer for the 
Plain Dealer, of Fort Madison, and in these 
positions he exercised a very considerable 
influence in public afifairs, acquiring a wide 
reputation as a clear and consistent thinker 
and forceful writer, whose pen was ever 
employed on the side of justice and sound 
policy. 

To Mr. and Mrs. Walter have been born 
the following children who reached maturi- 
ty: Alice R.. who is the wife of Charles 
H. Scheurs, at the present time a rural 
mail carrier of Donnellson, and has two chil- 
dren. Walter and Karl ; John, who died at 
the age of eighteen years; Elva and Kath- 
r}-n. who reside with their father. In March 
of 1903 the mother of this family passed to 
the higher life, and was laid at rest in Clav 



Grove cemetery. Although reared in the 
Presbyterian faith, in which denomination 
her father was a prominent and leading 
worker, she was a member of the Methodist 
Episcopal church. She was a woman of 
many rare qualities, a consistent Christian, 
a devoted wife and loving mother, and to 
those who, by the intimacy of family rela- 
tions, it was permitted to know the depth 
and truth of her affections, the sweet aroma 
of her memopt' will remain ever precious. 

To Mr. Walter has fallen many public 
duties. During a year of his residence at 
West Point he held the office of justice of 
the peace, for a period of thirty years he 
acted as notary public, in the village of Don- 
nellson he has been elected by his fellow 
citizens to the offices of alderman, recorder 
and mayor, and during the administration 
of President Harrison he was appointed 
postmaster, a position to which he was re- 
appointed on the inaguration of the late 
President McKinley. Also he was at one 
time made its secretary by the Lee county 
agricultural association. In 1892 he was 
one of the prime movers in the organiza- 
tion of the People's Mutual Fire Insurance 
Company, and was its first secretary, a re- 
lation which he lias ever since sustained. In 
fraternal affairs he has assumed a promi- 
nent place, being a past chancellor of the 
local lodge of the Knights of Pythias, and 
a member of the Masonic order and Sedge- 
wick post Grand Army of the Re- 
public of Maryville, Missouri. His 
political faith is that indicated by the 
part he has borne in public affairs — that of 
the Republican party, in which for a long 
term of vears he has been a valued worker. 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



71 



both on account of his large personal influ- 
ence and his advice in the councils of the 
party. Mr. Walter's life work has been one 
of broad and lasting usefulness, and the 
varied abilities he has displayed in differing 
occupations, together with his honorable and 
strictly upright course in all relations of 
life, fully entitle him to that universal re- 
spect which he has long enjoyed. He is 
well known, by reputation and personally, 
throughout Lee county, and has a host of 
friends who honor him for his character 
and his long record of dut}' conscientiously 
and nobly performed. 



HON. CHARLES H. FINCH. 

Success which comes from capability and 
the honor which is accorded in recognition 
to true worth are today enjoyed by Hon. 
Charles H. Finch, auditor of Lee county and 
ex-mayor of the city of Fort Madison. He 
was born in Fort Madison November 17. 
i860, and is the son of Hiram and Jane 
(Jenkins) Finch. Hiram Finch was born 
at Montrose. Susquehanna county, Pennsyl- 
vania, May 27, 1824. The family came to 
America from England at an early date, the 
grandfather, Hiram Finch, being an early 
resident of Montrose, Pennsylvania, where 
he secured a grant of land. He was one of 
the prominent men of his day, a sheriff of 
the county, and a successful real-estate oper- 
ator. Hiram Finch, the father of our sub- 
ject, followed the sea for many years, as 



mate of a sailing vessel. On retiring from 
the life of an ocean sailor he became, in 
i^57> mate and captain on the Mississippi 
river, and was one of the well-known river- 
men during the days when the river traffic 
was large and important. He continued in 
this line of activity until 1872. 

The parents of Charles H. Finch were 
married at Swansea, South Wales, and came 
to Fort Madison in 1857. After retiring 
from the river the father was connected 
with the state penitentiary at this place, 
holding various positions in the institution 
until about one year prior to his death. He 
was one of the early memljers of the Ma- 
sonic order at Dallas City, Illinois, being a 
charter member of Dallas City Lodge, 
Free and Accepted Masc^ns. He died 
July 8, 1900, the demise of his wife having 
l^receded his own by a year. Five children 
survive them. 

The subject of this sketch, after the com- 
pletion of his education in the public schools 
nf his native city, entered the employ of the 
Towa Farming Tool Company of this place, 
serving a regular apprenticeship of three 
years, in order to acquire the trade of a ma- 
chinist. As a master mechanic he remained 
with the same company until June, 1900, 
when he became manager of the Hotel An- 
thes. This connection was continued until 
April, 1904. 

In politics he has been an active worker 
in the Democratic ranks ever since attain- 
ing his majority. Twice he has Iteen elected 
to serve his ward in the city council, but 
resigned the oflfice during his second term on 
account of having changed the place of his 
residence. In the first term of his tenure 



72 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



he was chairman of the Light and Park com- 
mittees, and it was at this time that Old Set- 
tlers' Park was graded and filled and other- 
wise beautified and improved. In 1901, the 
year following his resignation, he was called 
by his fellow citizens to the highest office 
within their gift, and it was during his ad- 
ministration as mayor of the city of Fort 
Madison that the floating debt of the mu- 
nicipality was materially reduced. 

Prior to the expiration of his term of 
office as mayor he was elected auditor of 
Lee county, assuming his new duties in 
January, 1903. He has discharged the ob- 
ligations and responsibilities of this posi- 
tion with credit to himself and in such a 
manner as to reflect honor upon the con- 
stituency which has seen fit to repose in him 
a tnist of such importance and magnitude. 

Fraternally he is Master of Stella Lodge, 
No. 440, Free and Accepted Masons, and 
as a Past Master of the lodge has been 
its representative in the Grand Lodge. In 
Potowonka Chapter, No. 21, Royal Arch 
Masons, he holds membership, and 
has occupied the positions of High Priest 
and representative to the Grand Chapter. 
In the Masonic craft, especially, has he been 
prominent. He is a member of the council 
and of Dallas Commandery No. 51, of Fort 
Madison, of which latter he has been Emi- 
nent Commander. In the Mystic Shrine his 
membership is in Kaba Temple, Davenport, 
Iowa. 

April 10, 1894, Mr. Finch married Miss 
Elizabeth Anthes, a member of one of the 
prominent families of Fort Madison. She 
is a daughter of George and Anna Anthes. 
Two sons grace their home — George H. and 



Charles A. Mr. Finch gives his active sup- 
port to the Episcopal church, in which he 
was reared, and Mrs. Finch is a member of 
that denomination. In Fort Madison and 
throughout Lee county the name of Hon. 
Charles H. Finch stands for many things 
of which any man might feel justly proud. 
Among these are honor, integrity and an 
unswerving faithfulness to duty. 



GEORGE RANSON. 



George Ranson, an old and honored 
pioneer of Cedar township, Lee county, 
Iowa, who is living upon his magnificent 
estate of four hundred and eighteen acres 
and after a long and useful career is pass- 
ing his last \-ears in a well-deserved peace 
and quiet. 

-\Ir. Ranson was born in Yorkshire, Eng- 
land, March 3, 183 1, a S(in of James and 
Elizabeth Ranson. The following year his 
parents crossed the ocean in an old sailing 
vessel, and made their way to Jacksonville, 
Illinois, where they maintained their home 
until 1841. That year they removed to 
Henry county, Iowa, where the father 
bought a two-hundred-acre farm, to which 
he later added thirty acres, on which he 
spent the balance of his life. There was 
only a log cabin and stable upon the place 
and made such other improvements as the 
needs" of the place demanded. He was the 
father of six girls and two boys. Three of 
the girls are dead, and the subject of this 
sketch was the fourth member of the fam- 
ilv in order of birth. 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



72, 



George received but a limited education 
in the old log" school houses of Illinois and 
Iowa, under the instruction of the frontier 
pedagogues, but he has made the most of the 
instruction that he did receive. By close ob- 
servation and wide reading he has supplied 
many of the defects of his early training, 
and has become a well-educated man in the 
great school of life. He lived at Jionie 
until he reached the age of twenty-five years 
when his father died. In March. 1861. he 
was married to Miss Romelia Hyde, who 
was born near Columbus, Franklin county, 
Ohio, a daughter of George ^^'. and Sarah 
(Hart) Hyde. Her father was born in New 
York city, and her mother in Ohio, but her 
people were of Southern origin. About 
1849 they settled in Cedar township. Lee 
county, bought a farm of twd hundred acres, 
on which her father was engaged in farm- 
ing his remaining years. 

Mr. Ranson made his home with his 
father-in-law. for one summer, then bought 
the place where he now resides on which 
he built a fine house and barn, making many 
other improvements, such as setting out a 
fine orchard, and bringing the entire place 
up to the most exacting recfuirements. After 
his father-in-law's death he bought out the 
other heirs' interest. 

To Mr. and Mrs. Ranson have come 
the following children : Elizabeth and Laura 
died young; Eva is dead: Luella. the wife 
of George E. Powell, has four living chil- 
dren — Howard. Lena, Nellie and Vern; 
Frank, a resident of Big Mound, Lee 
county, married Miss Olive Crawford, and 
they are the parents of two children — 
Roland and Martha; Ellen married C. W. 

6 



King, a farmer in Cedar township, and is 
the mother of four children — Ellen, Henrv, 
George Marion and V'elda ; Walter married 
Grace Zigler, and is a farmer near Salem; 
I'lorence Magnolia married Richard Dods- 
worth, and is a resident of Marion town- 
ship ; Martha is at home ; Charles and W'al- 
lace died young. 

Mr. Ranson is Republican in his political 
sympathies, and though he has never sought 
official honors he has acted as treasurer of 
his school district for many years. In re- 
ligion he is a member of the Methodist 
Episcopal church, and has well squared his 
life l)y the principles of honesty, brother- 
hood and square dealing. Among the old 
settlers his name is well known, and he is 
the most respected and esteemed by those 
who have known him the longest. 



JAMES M. GARDNER. 

James M. Gardner, who was for many 
years a resident and large landholder of 
Franklin township. Lee county, Iowa, was 
born at Hillsboro, New Hampshire, May 
II, 1835, a son of William and Sophronia 
Gardner, with whom he removed to Jackson 
county in what is now West Virginia, when 
he was but four years of age, and there he 
received his education in the rural schools 
and grew to years of maturity as his father's 
assistant on the farm, but in i8(')3 he de- 
cided to broaden the field of his labors, and 
entered the employ of the I.x)uisville Bridge 



74 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



& Iron Company as a bridge builder. He 
remained in the employ of this company 
throughout the remainder of his life, and 
having early displayed remarkable aptitude 
for the work of his chosen profession, was 
given charge of the bridges of the Louisville 
& Xash\-ille Railroad during the disturbed 
period which marked the close of the Civil 
War. and was captured a number of times 
by the Confederate guerrillas who then in- ' 
fested that section, but being a non-com- 
batant, was always released. He soon took 
high rank as a superintendent of bridge 
building, and in that capacity did a great, 
deal of construction work on various rail- 
roads, being thus engaged in nearly all the 
states of the Union, and building a large 
number of bridges. He possessed mechan- 
ical ability of a high order, and was a man 
of strong executive force, possessing in an 
unusual degree the talent for governing and 
directing men, and it was this quality that 
caused his services to be always in demand 
and brought him unusual appreciation from 
his employers, together with the fact that 
he was always thorough in his work and 
never failed to insist upon the same con- 
scientious observance of detail from those 
under his command. 

On December 15, 1879, Mr. Gardner 
wedded Miss Amanda Peoples, of Ohio, who 
was born in Steubenville, Meigs county, that 
state, July 8, 1838. In 1874 he purchased 
a farm of 160 acres in Franklin township, 
Lee county, Iowa, and in 1876 he brought 
his family from West Virginia and estab- 
lished them in this new home, he having 
great faith in the possibilities of the West 
as a field of opportunity for his children, to 



whom he desired to furnish all the advan- 
tages in his power. Later he added to his 
real-estate holdings until he owned 364 acres 
of fertile lands, which was ailtivated by his 
sons, he himself being constantly absent 
upon the duties of his profession. To Mr. 
and Mrs. Gardner were born the following 
children who survive them : William S., 
of Central City, Nebraska; Lucinda H., 
wife of A. L. C. Wolf, of Central City, Ne- 
braska ; Harry A., of Gushing, Iowa ; Mary 
E., wife of Laurence Ray, of Central City, 
Nebraska; Robert A., postmaster at West 
Point, Iowa ; and John E., practicing the 
profession of dentistry at Newman's Grove, 
Nebraska. Two sons, James C. and Edwin 
E., are deceased. 

Mr. Gardner's death occurred July 11, 
1886, his demise having been preceded by 
that of his wife, which occurred March 7, 
1884, and both are buried in Clay Grove 
cemeter}'. While Mr. Gardner was en- 
thusiastically devoted to his work, his first 
consideration was ever that of his duty as 
a citizen, and he was an intelligent, student 
of public affairs in their more general as- 
pects, and a consistent member of the Re- 
publican party, which he supported in all 
important contests. He believed in an over- 
riding Providence, to which he owned al- 
legiance, and holding firmly to the tenets 
of the Christian faith, he held membership 
in the Christian church, as did also his de- 
voted wife, and they observed a lifelong 
fidelity in their religious relations as embody- 
ing the most exalted conception of which 
the human mind is capable. He was a man 
of resolute and determined character, yet 
kind and gentle in disposition, one who 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



75 



made friends easily and retained their re- 
gard without effort as belonging to him by 
natural right, and was respected by all with 
whom he came in contact. 



CHARLES E. RUTH, M. D. 

Dr. Charles E. Ruth, physician, surgeon 
and educator, now holding the professor- 
ship of surgery and clinical surgery in the 
Keokuk Medical College, College of Phy- 
sicians and .Surgeons, of Keokuk, was born 
in Johnson county, Iowa, on the 17th of 
August, 1 86 1, his parents being Alexander 
and Sarah Jane (Funk) Ruth. The Ruths 
are of old Pennsylvania stock. The great' 
grandfather of Dr. Ruth was brought from 
England to America when only a year old, 
the family home being established in Wash- 
ington county, Pennsylvania, prior to the 
American Revolution. There he was reared, 
becoming a farmer and stockraiser. His 
home was located about two miles south 
of West Alexandria, Pennsylvania. His 
wife, a native of Ireland, was also brought 
to America when about a year old and was 
reared in the same neighborhood as her hus- 
l)and. Tiiey became the parents of ten chil- 
dren. Their son. Hugh Ruth, the grand- 
father of Dr. Ruth, died in Winterset, Madi- 
son county. Iowa, at the advanced age of 
eighty-seven years. He was married twice 
and had twelve children. His first wife, 
a Miss Jacobs, was the grandmother of Dr. 
Ruth. She died in 1845, age thirty-four. 



Alexander Ruth was born in Washing- 
ton county. Pennsylvania, in 1836, and came 
to Iowa when twenty years of age, settling 
in Johnson county, where he has since made 
his home. He enlisted in Company G, 
Fourteenth Iowa Volunteer Infantry, and 
served in the Indian war on the border under 
General Sully, participating in all the en- 
gagements of his regiment. Later he was 
transferred to the Forty-first Iowa Volun- 
teer Infantry and subsequently to the Sev- 
enth Iowa Cavalry, and remaining. at the 
front until after the close of the war, he 
then received an honorable discharge and 
has since lived in Johnson and Muscatine 
counties and at present is a resident of Win- 
terset. Iowa. In i860 he married Miss Sarah 
J. Funk, who was born in Greene county, 
Pennsylvania, in 1840, a daughter of Joseph 
Funk, also a native of that county, where 
the family was established in pioneer times, 
and where the descendants are now very 
numerous. Her father was a shoemaker 
and later a farmer. Six cliildren were born 
to Alexander and Sarah Ruth, of whom 
four are living: Charles E.. Oliver J., Car- 
rie B. and Lizzie J. The elder daughter be- 
came the wife of Walter Braham, who was 
killed by a falling timber in 1894, while liv- 
ing at Croxton, Nebraska, and she is now 
the wife of J. H. Mark. Lizzie J. is en- 
gaged in deaconess work in Mother's Jewels 
Home, in York, Nebraska. Mrs. Ruth died 
in July. 1896. 

Charles E. Ruth, reared upon his father's 
farm, acquired his early education in the 
district schools and afterward attended the 
high school of Iowa City. Determining 
upon practice of medicine as a life work 



76 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



he pursued a three years course of study in 
the Medical department of the Iowa State 
University, from which he was graduated, 
March 7, 1883. He at once began practice 
in Atalissa, Muscatine county, Iowa, where 
he remained for four years and then re- 
moved to the city of Muscatine. While 
there he became a member of the County 
and State Medical Societies and the Amer- 
ican Medical Association. Finding that 
Muscatine did not offer him the field of labor 
he desired and wliich was demanded by his 
constantlv developing powers. Accordingly 
he came to Keokuk in 1892. Two years 
prior to this time he had been elected pro- 
fessor of anatomy in the Keokuk Medical 
College, while in 1893 he was elected pro- 
fessor of clinical surgerx^ at St. Joseph's 
Hospital, at Keokuk. His connection with 
the Keokuk Medical College began in 1890. 
He was elected vice president of the insti- 
tution in 1896, and his connection there- 
with has since lieen continuous. In 1903 
he Ijecame secretary- of the faculty of the 
Keokuk ^ledical College. College of Phy- 
sicians and Surgeons, and in July, 1904, was 
elected professor of surgery- and clinical 
surgerv in tiie college. In the same year 
he was made chairman of the section of 
surgery of the Iowa State Medical Society. 
He has also served for one term as presi- 
dent of tlie Tri-State Medical Society, em- 
bracing Illinois, Iowa and Missouri. In 
1898 lie was chosen chairman of the sec- 
tion of obstetrics and diseases of women of 
the Iowa Medical Society, and in June of 
that \ear he was appointed brigade surgeon, 
with tlie rank of major, in the United States 



volunteer army, but on account of illness 
was obliged to resign his commission the 
following month. Among later societies or- 
ganized for the dissemination of knowledge 
among the members of the profession, of 
which Dr. Ruth has become a representa- 
tive are: The Western Surgical and Gyne- 
cological Society, the Military Tract Med- 
ical Society, the Southeastern Iowa Medical 
Society and the Southwestern Iowa Medi- 
cal Society. His prominence and ability are 
widely acknowledged by the profession, and 
not only in pri\'ate practice liut also as an 
educator his labors have proven of far- 
reaching benefit to mankind. 

On the 3d of Octolier. 1883. Dr. Ruth 
married Miss Adella Tantlinger, an accom- 
plished daughter of John L. and Louisa 
(Warren") Tantlinger, born in Johnson 
county, Iowa, August 28, 1864. The Tant- 
lingers located in Iowa City as early as 1840 
when the site was nearly ail luicultivated 
])rairie or timlier land. Josepii Stover, a 
nati\-e of Kentucky and a descendant of 
Daniel Boone, was the great-grandfather, 
in tiie maternal line, of Mrs. Ruth. He was 
a broad-shouldered, powerful maii. intensely 
loyal and was well fitted to cope with pioneer 
conditions, which undoubtedly he enjoyed, 
for he liecame a frontiersman in four states. 
He became wealthy through inveslment and 
well-directed business acti\-ity and died at 
the advanced age of ninety-seven years, 
leaving his farm, two miles southwest of 
Iowa City, to his son, who still resides there. 
His wife died at the age of eighty-eight 
vears. His daughter, grandmother of Mrs. 
Ruth, was a widow when she went to Iowa 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



77 



City with lier fallier. ?ler name was Mrs. 
Sarah (Stover) V\'arreii and she had six cliil- 
dren. 

Dr. and Mrs. Ruth have three children: 
\'eri .\hnn, I'na Gertrude and Zana. The 
parents are menihers i>f the Methndist F.])is- 
copal eluuvh. In whidi Dr. i\nth has he- 
lonsjed fnmi tlie age of ten years. He is 
also a member of the Masonic fraternity 
and is deeply interested in all that pertains 
to the betterment of mankind. It would be 
almost tautological in this connection to en- 
ter into any series of statements as showing 
him to be a man of strong intellectuality and 
progressive ideas, for these iiave been shad- 
owed forth between the lines of tliis review. 
Those who have profited by his professional 
service have also recognized in him a broad 
humanitarian spirit and a kindly sympathy 
which have won him the entire respect of 
the general public as well as his fellow 
members in the profession. 



RUDOLPH H. KREHBIEL. 

In order to properly and fully inider- 
stand the greatness of the country in which 
we live it is necessary to make a study of 
the various sources from which that great- 
ness arises, to analyze its elements, and to 
appraise, with what accuracy we may. the 
value and importance of its several constit- 
uent parts ; and in any inquiry of this kind 
it invariably appears that a very great meas- 
ure of credit is due to families of Germanic 



origin, and that tlie energy, enterprise and 
keen mentality of this class of citizens has 
entitled the part ])layed by them in the ma- 
terial, moral and civic advancement of the 
nation to be considered highly e.xcellent, 
]3raiseworthy and broadly significant. A 
re])rescntali\e of this class of estimable citi- 
zens in Lee county and a member of one 
of its old and prominent families, is Ru- 
dolph H. Krehbiel, of Franklin township, 
where he resides on a large and highlv im- 
proved farm in section 29 and successfully 
conducts a business of general farming and 
stockraising. 

Mr. Krehbiel is a native son of Lee 
county, hax'ing been l)orn March \q. 1866. 
in the home which he now occupies, and is 
the son of Christian and Mary (Schnebele) 
Krehbiel, who were both of German birth 
and an account of whose lives will be found 
elsewhere in this work. lie received his 
erlucation in lioth the German and English 
languages, attending the public schools and 
a German institution in his district, the latter 
being maintained by families of that na- 
tionality in order that their children might 
enjoy superior ad\antages and that the most 
clierished and valuable traditions of the 
b'atherland might be perpetuated for their 
inrtuence on tiie characters of their descend- 
ants. He also took an active share in the 
work of the farm, learning the details of 
management md OjieratitMi imder the direc- 
tion of his father, and in his twenty-si.xth 
vear he began his independent work in life 
bv renting one of his father's farms in 
l-'ranklin township, which he conducted with 
great success luitil the death of his father in 
1899, when, receiving the bequest of the 



78 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



home farm, he removed here and has since 
made it his place of residence. Here he has 
profitably continued his work of farming, 
and devotes a great deal of attention to the 
raising of high-grade stock, a subject on 
which he is a recognized authority. Besides 
the farm of lOO acres on which he resides 
he owns 80 acres in section 30 and 35 acres 
of fine timber land in section 30. He has 
brought his land to a high state of cultiva- 
tion, has introduced m.any modern improve- 
ments, thus demonstrating his thorough 
confidence in up-to-date ideas and proving 
bv his success in their application that en- 
terprise is as valuable in agriculture as in 
any other line of business, and at the same 
time he has observed a legitimate conserv- 
atism which gives full respect to the results 
of past experience. 

On May 15, 1892, Mr. Krehbiel was 
united in marriage to Miss Mary Lowen- 
berg, a native of Lee county and a daughter 
of Valentine and Kate (Krehbiel) Lowen- 
berg. Mrs. Krehbiel's father was born in 
Germany, and when only fourteen years of 
age came to America, locating in Lee county, 
where he successfully engaged in farming 
throughout his acti\e life. To Mr. and 
Mrs. Krehbiel ha\e been born eight sons 
and flaughters, as follows : Hilda, Edgar, 
Robert, !\Iary. Rudolph, Kurt, Lillian and 
Honier, who died at the age of two months. 
All had l*"ranklin township for their place 
of birth, and are being educated in the pub- 
lic schools of that township. 

Mr. Krehbiel is a member of the Mennon- 
ite church and an acti\e supporter of its 
work as of all movements calculated to se- 
cure tlie welfare of his conmnmitv. \Mn'lc 



an advocate of all progressive measures and 
taking a great interest in public afifairs, he 
has never aspired to public office, but con- 
tents himself with conscientious effort in his 
capacity of private citizen to promote hon- 
est and efficient go\-ernment. In his partisan 
relations he is a member of the Democratic 
party, believing the principles and declared 
policies of that organization to lie the high- 
est embodiment of American political sci- 
ence, !)ut usually maintains an independent 
attitude in affairs of local government, cast- 
ing his ballot according to his individual es- 
timate of the men and measures involved. 
Always public spirited and ready to aid all 
worthy enterprises, he was at one time a 
stockholder in the Bank of Donnellson dur- 
ing the earlier history of that institution, 
but has not maintained the connection. Mr. 
Krehbiel's position among the progressive 
and substantial citizens of Lee county is 
one of the very highest, and by reason of 
bis successful career, his representative 
character and his wide acquaintance he is 
well deserving of a prominent place in a 
work of the present nature. 



JOHN C. COURTRIQHT. 

A careful and methodical farmer, a con- 
scientious citizen, a good neighbor and 
friend, and a sincere Christian, John C. 
Courtright has left behind him a record 
which will long keep his memory in the 
hearts of those who knew him best. From 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



79 



tlie comforts and pleasures (if tlie lunne 
which he lia<! buHt uji as the result of years 
of faitiiful effort he was called to the higher 
life ou July 9. 1900. aged fifty-four years, 
four uiouths and eleven days. A Inief sketch 
of his career is here given among- the lives 
of the representative men of Lee comity. 

Mr. Courtright was hijrn in Franklin 
county. Ohio. February 28. 1846. and came 
to Lee county with his parents when five 
years of age. they settling in Franklin town- 
ship. After the death of his father ami 
mother he made his home with Edward 
Courtright near Clny Grove, remaining there 
until his marriage May 4. 1867. to Miss 
\'irginia Jarrett. Mrs. Courtright was born 
in Xorth Carolina, and came to Lee county 
with her parents in her girlhood. She is 
tlie daughter of Elias and Fanny ( Lantz ) 
Jarrett. both natives of Xorth Carolina, and 
is one of a family of thirteen brothers and 
sisters, all but one of whom attained years 
of maturity and were married. The father 
died in this county at the age of eighty-two 
years, having spent the greater part of his 
life as a farmer near West Point. The 
mother is still living, at the age of ninety- 
seven years, and resides with her daughter, 
Mrs. Courtright. in Fort Madison. 

To Mr. and Mrs. Courtright were born 
eight children, as follows : Otho C. : Lulu 
Edith, who is the wife of Dudley Barnes, 
and resides on the old Courtright home 
farm; Edward E.. dentist, of Fort Madison: 
Viola Belle, wife of R. A. Gardner, of West 
Point, this county: Myrtle: Hugh I,.: Pearl 
C. ; Lilly, deceased. 

Mr. Courtright was educated at Den- 
mark Academv at Denmark, Lee county. 



and engaged in general farming and stock- 
raising in Franklin township, continuing 
these occupations until the time of his death. 
He owned a farm of one hundred acres 
which he inherited from his t'ather. being 
part of the original estate, and in addition 
he purchased eighty acres, which he im- 
proved and placed under a high state of 
cultivation. He was a member of Clay 
Grove Methodist Episcopal church, of which 
he was trustee and steward for a long period 
of years, and was one of its active workers 
and a devout Christian. He served as town- 
ship trustee of Franklin township for eleven 
years. Li politics he was a Democrat, but 
never sought public office. He was, how- 
ever, a public-spirited man, in the highest 
sense of the term, and was one who enjoyed 
the profoundest esteem of those who knew 
him. 

Otto C. Courtright, eldest of the children 
of John C. Courtright, is engaged in the 
business of photography at Fort Madison. 
Born on the Imme farm near West Point, 
he was educated in \\'hittier College at 
Salem. Iowa, and Howe's Academy of 
Mount Pleasant, and later this was sup- 
plemented bv a course of stu<ly in a business 
college at Burlington. He assisted in the 
work of the farm until abmil twenty-one 
years of age, when he began his present 
liusiness, locating first at Salem, Henry 
county, Iowa, .\fter two years spent at that 
place he removed to l-\nrmington. but re- 
mained there only a short time before taking 
up his present location in Fort Madison, 
where he has been continuously since. Here 
he has a modern and unusually well-ap- 
pointed studio, and Conducts a large and sue- 



8o 



BIOGRAPHICAL RE I lElV 



cessful business. He was vinited in mar- 
riage at Fort Madison to Miss Birdie Marsli, 
and they iiave one son, Lazarre. Mr. Court- 
right lias made many friends here, and is 
rapidly assuming a substantial position in 
the business world of Fort Madison. He is 
a member of the Methodist Episcopal 
church. 



LAWRENCE E. DENMIRE. 

Lawrence E. Denmire is a man whose 
career illustrates the value of sound busi- 
ness principles applied to every undertaking. 
He is a general farmer, the proprietor of a 
fine estate consisting of 200 acres of very 
choice land in section 25, Montrose town- 
ship, Lee county, and has risen to a very 
prominent place in his chosen calling by 
the use of precisely the same principles that 
make for fame and fortmie wherex'er manly 
character and business integrity manifest 
themseh'es. He has studied the situation 
in which his interests are involved, has de- 
termined what is right and proper to do, 
and then has gone ahead with boldness and 
enterprise, to work out great problems in 
his own life and field of labor. In general, 
that prol)Iem is to bring the finished product 
with the least intermediary expense the clos- 
est to the consumer. The principle is the 
same, whether applied to the affairs of a 
nation, or the humble efforts of the individ- 
ual tiller of the soil, to att off as far as possi- 
ble the exactions of intermediate agencies, 
and bring the producer and the consumer 



as close together as possible. In the estab- 
lishment and the development of a very im- 
portant canning factory, Air. Denmire de- 
serves to rank with the "captains of indus- 
try," and while his name may never appear 
on the rolls of the great, it deserves and 
recei\'es an important place in the annals 
of Lee county. 

Mr. Denmire was born on the farm 
wb.ere he now lives May 5, 1837, a son of 
Edward and Emily K. (Kyle) Denmire, 
natives respectfully of Preble and Trambull 
counties, Ohio. They were married in Day- 
ton, Ohio, and removed to Lee county in 
1853, where they led a farming life until 
the death of the husband and father in 
1888. There is a sister of Mr. Denmire, 
Altha E., who is living at home and is un- 
married. She has been a very successful 
school teacher. 

The subject of this review left school 
when he was only fifteen years of age and 
applied himself for some years to the work 
of the farm. For fifteen years he held an 
important position as contracting and re- 
ceiving agent for the Burlington Pickling 
Works at Ballinger Station. He has a nat- 
urallv mechanical turn of mind, and is quite 
an expert blacksmith and iron worker. For 
several years he was quite busily engaged in 
blacksmithing, and all the machinery in his 
canning factory was installed by himself. 
This was an enterprise which he began in 
1804: and he has enlarged it year by year 
until it now has an output of three thousand 
cases of tomatoes yearly, besides, other 
goods. He himself raises about a fourth of 
the tomatoes he uses and contracts for the 
rest, which of course makes business in the 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



neighborhood. During tlie season ajjout 
thirty-five women are employed in tlie fac- 
tory as well as from three to eight men. It 
now represents a total investment of alxiut 
$5,000, of which about $1,400 has been put 
in this season in the form of new machiner\- 
and other needed improvements. Every- 
thing in the factory is done under the per- 
sonal direction of the proprietor, and he has 
proved himself in this notable Inisiness un- 
dertaking an exceedingly careful as well as 
enterprising manager. In 1904 he had a 
tomato-field that covered over thirteen acres 
with an mntsuat abundant yield. His goods 
are of a high grade, and the wholesale gro- 
cers of Burlington and Keokuk are glad to 
handle all they can seaire of his make. 

Mr. Denmire was married October 24, 
1888, to Miss Maude Burt. To this union 
have come six children : Helen Coe : Leta 
E. ; Burt E. : Dorothy J., Frederick S., who 
is dead, and Lawrence. Jr. He is a charter 
member of the Summitville Camp, No. 4594, 
Modern \\'oodmen of America, and is an 
enthusiastic and devoted friend of the fra- 
ternity. Years ago he was a member of 
the Independent Order of Good Templars. 
It was a country lodge, and had at one time 
some forty members. During its existence 
he was one of its most active workers, and 
much of the time occupied official station. 

Mr. Denmire is a member of the Chris- 
tian church at Sandusky. Lee county, and 
for years has been one of its deacons as well 
as a member of its financial committee. He 
was a liberal contributor to the building of 
the first church, and is now one of the tms- 
tees of the organization. In politics he is 
a Republican, aufl is generally regarded as 



one of the prominent and influential citi- 
zens of the county. 

Benjamin Coe Burt, the father of Mrs. 
Denmire, a native of Orange county, ■New 
York, spent his last years in the village of 
Sandusky, Lee county, where he died in 
1888. His widow is still living, and makes 
her home with her son, Harvey, of Wash- 
ington. Her children, other than Mrs. Den- 
mire, are as follows: Howard, Charles, 
Frank, ^Hari-y and Mrs. William Jessup, 
now residing in Florida, New York. 

The Denmires are very highly esteemed 
in the community where their helpful and 
useful lives are swiftly passing in a r<nmd 
of good deeds and quiet fostering of all that 
is generous and inspiring in life around 
them. 



HENRY F. EPPERS. 



Probably no agricultiuMst of Lee county 
enjoys a greater degree of prominence and 
influence than the subject of this sketch, 
and certainly none has borne a more impor- 
tant part in .shaping the destinies of the 
county than he. Sagacity, discrimination 
and keen foresight are the qualities that have 
raised him to a commanding position, and 
of him it may be justly said that his natural 
talents have not been used merely for pur- 
poses of self-aggrandizement, but have al- 
ways been employed for the public good. 
Although not a native of the county, he has 
I>een a contiinious resident here since 1856, 
and his record has been honorable and sig- 



82 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



nificant. Mr. Eppers was born in Bruns- 
wick, Germany, January 4, 1848, the son 
of Henry and Wilhelmina Eppers. He 
came with his parents to America when 
eight years of age, and settled on a farm in 
Jefferson township, and here his fatlier 
spent the remainder of his Hfe. Our sub- 
ject received his early education in the pub- 
lic schools of his township, and later he at- 
tended the village school of Franklin. Dur- 
ing vacations, however, he assisted in the 
work of the farm, learning those lessons of 
useful labor that were destined to prove of 
value in later life. 

With that independence which charac- 
terizes the best young American manhood, 
Mr. Eppers immediately began his active ca- 
reer on his own account as soon as he at- 
tained to the age of twenty-one years, secur- 
ing employment at rafting and with lumber 
boats on the Mississippi river. He followed 
this occupation very successfully for a num- 
ber of years. He then bought a fann of forty 
acres in Jefferson township, hut finding after 
a time that he was able to make a handsome 
profit from the pur.suit of agriculture, he 
decided to enlarge his holdings, and there- 
fore traded his farm for one of eighty acres 
in same tDwnship, that which he now 
owns and on which he has resided for twen- 
ty-five years. By industry, economy and 
care he has here made for himself a pleasant 
home, one in which are to be found many 
modern conveniences, and in which his fam- 
ily enjoy the comforts of life. 

On April 23, 1874, Mr. Eppers was 
united in marriage to Miss Minnie Kne- 
meyer, of Fort Madison. Mrs. Eppers is 
of German parentage, but was born in Amer- 



ica, being a native of Illinois. Of this union 
have been bom four sons and one daughter. 
They are : Frederick, Edward, Minnie, 
Charles, Roy. 

In matters of politics Mr. Eppers has 
given his support with unswerving loyalty 
to the Democratic j)arty, and has Ijeen an 
active worker for the triumph of its princi- 
ples. To him the party in southern Iowa 
owes much, and has often rewarded his ef- 
forts in its behalf by elevating him to posi- 
tions of honor. His first public trust was 
t1iat of township clerk of Jefferson town- 
ship, which post he held for ten years, and 
later he was elected to the office of assessor 
and for a period of eight years he performed 
its duties with signal success and to 
the satisfaction of his constituents. 
He has served his party as delegate 
to every state convention for the last 
ten ye:irs, and as delegate to every county 
convention .for thirty years — a remarkable 
record. For several years he was chairman 
of the county central committee, and it was 
during his tenure of ofiRce that the Demo- 
cratic party received the largest majorities 
at the polls that it ever enjoyed — before or 
since. Of recent years he has been sending 
as a member of the congressional commit- 
tee of his district, and is at the present time 
chairman of that body, having 1>een elected 
in 1902 and re-elected in 1904. It will thus 
be seen that Mr. Eppers's part in shaping 
the policies of the great party to which he 
belongs has been one of no limited extent. 
In 1880 he accepted the iiomination for 
coimty recorder, and as a result of his pop- 
ularity he reduced the normal majority 
against him more than t,too votes. Long 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



83 



practical experience in politics gives great 
weight to his voice in Democratic councils, 
and he deserves honor from the fact that 
his influence has always heen on the side of 
protecting the purity of the ballot and safe- 
guarding the popular liberties. On account 
of his ability and integrity he enjoys the uni- 
versal confidence and respect, and his pleas- 
ing manner and personality have made him 
a host of loval friends. 



CHARLES JEFFERSON HAQAN, M. D. 

Death often remo\'es from I'ur midst 
thcise whom we c;'.n ill afford to lose, men 
whose lives ha\e become an intetjral factor 
in the history of their communities, because 
of an unselfi.sh spirit which prompts effort 
for the general good as well as for individual 
progress. Brave in the i)resence of danger, 
calm in the midst of excitement, at all times 
using his faculties to the utmost along pro- 
gressive lines, giving of his labors for his 
fellowmen not only in his profession but 
also in other walks of lite. Dr. Hagan com- 
manded the respect and confidence of all and 
won the sincere friendship and deeper love 
of many. He was a man of scholarly tastes 
and attainments devoted tn his family and in 
his daily cunduct displayed those sterling 
traits wliich cause his friends to say : 

"He w^as a man : take him for all in all. 

I shall not look upon his like again." 

Dr. Hagan was a native of Tuscarawas 
countv. Oiiio. born on the loth of I"el)ru- 



ary. 1842. his parents lieing Charles and 
Margaret (Bailes) Hagan, the former a 
native of Pennsylvania and the latter of 
Xew ^'ork. In his native county he spent 
his youth and acquired his education, obtain- 
ing fair knowledge of the sciences and the 
luiguages. Throughout his entire life, how- 
c\er. he continued a student, constantly 
broadening his mind by research and in- 
vestigation. Taking up the .study of medi- 
cine in 1859, '^^ ^^"''S graduated from Starling 
Medical . College, of Columbus, Ohio, in 
1863. about the time he attained his ma- 
jority. In 1862. however, when he was but 
twenty years of age and while yet a college 
student he was appointed acting assistant 
surgeon in the United States Army and after 
his graduation was commissioned assistant 
surgeon in the Forty-sixth Ohio Infantry, 
with which he remained until after the close 
of hostilities. His was a noble and com- 
mendable ser\ice. Ever forgetting all per- 
sonal danger he made his way to the battle- 
field again and again to relieve the suffering 
of his wounded comrades. He was one of 
the few army surgeons wounded in the war, 
being severely wounded in Sherman's fa- 
mous campaign to Atlanta. Georgia. He 
came to be loved bv all to whom he minis- 
tered, because of his kindly, genial spirit 
as well as his professional skill. 

When tlie war was ended Dr. Hagan re- 
turned to his old home in Ohio and there 
practiced his profession until 1867. when he 
came to the Mississippi valley and opened an 
office in Alexandria, .\lmost immediately 
he attained success as a practitioner there, 
his knowledge and skill being recognized 
and continualK- <lemonstrate(l in his allevi- 



84 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



ation of human suffering. He was ap- 
pointed postmaster of Alexandria, serving 
in 1868-9 ^^^^ afterward conducted tlie 
office for three years for C. H. Grumman. 
He continued a resident of Missouri until 
April 5. i8' when he removed to Keokuk, 
where he gave his attention to the practice 
of his profession and the supervision of his 
private interests until his death, which oc- 
curred i.Hi tlie 30th of X()veml)er. 1903. 

Dr. Hagan was married on the 29th of 
June, 186 > Miss Louise G. Conway, and 
the\' becauic the parents of two daughters, 
but the elder, Xona. died Feljruarv 3. 1896. 
The younger, the wife of Dr. H. A. Grav, 
. is living in Keokuk. The death of his 
daughter was a blow to Dr. Hagan, from 
which he seemed never to recover. He was 
deeply attached to his familv, his interests 
centering in his home and the best traits 
of his character were there daily displaved. 
Although he was not demonstrative in its 
expression his love for his wife and chil- 
dren was the ruling element in bis character. 
He took little part in public life, dividing his 
attention between his family and his prac- 
tice. While living in Mis.souri he had be- 
come a member of Memphis Commandery. 
Knights Templar, and was in full svmpathy 
with the beneficent spirit of Masonry. He 
also belonged to the Northeastern Missouri 
Medical Society. He was always conscien- 
tious, nc\-er yielding one iota in a matter of 
principle or duty, yet he had ready sym- 
pathy for the mistakes of others and was 
ever willing to extend a helping hand to 
those who were finding it difficult to climb 
upward. He was of calm temperament, 
kindly spirit and genial disposition, possess- 



ing much of cbi\alr\- and entirelv free from 
ostentation or display. He was a great lover 
of books, devoting much of his leisure hours 
from his profession to the studv of historv. 
biography, science and general literature. 
He read onh' the liest and had the ]xr,ver of 
assimilating the great ideas of the master 
minds. He was a companionable man, al- 
though the circle of his friends was select 
rather than large and those who gained his 
friendship j^irized it as a rare jewel. 



JAMES H. ANDERSON. 

James H. Anderson, classed as one of 
the ablest lawyers that has ever practiced at 
the bar of Keokuk, has been a memlser of the 
legal profession for forty years and while 
his clientage has been extensive and of an 
important character he has at the same time 
found opportunity to assist in the substan- 
tial development of the city, his tangible 
labors in behalf of Keokuk rendering him 
a valuable and forceful factor in community 
afTairs. His life work has won the admira- 
tion and respect of bis fellow men and he 
receives the deference which the world in- 
stinctivelv jiavs to the man whose success 
has been worthily achieved. Born in Cin- 
cinnati, Ohio, on the 30th of May. 1842. 
he is a son of Robert James and Mary J. 
(Whitnev) .Anderson. Although his father 
was born in Dublin, Ireland, on the 5th of 
March, 1813. the ancestral history of the 
family can be traced back to an early epoch 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



85 



in Scottish annals. Robert Anderson, the 
founder of the family on the Emerald Isle, 
went with William the Conqueror, to the 
north of Ireland, and in the general confis- 
cation which was there made according to 
the customs of war at that time he was given 
three -small farms in the county of Cavan — 
propert}- which remained in possession of 
his descendants for one hundred and forty 
years. His namesake, Robert .\nderson, 
the gi-andfather of James H. Anderson, left 
the ancestral home in the north of Ireland 
and went to Dublin, where he married Con- 
stance Iloare. a daughter of a prominent 
lawyer of that city and a member of the 
same family to which belong^s George F. 
Hoar and the London bankers of that name. 
Robert .\nderson was an accountant at Dub- 
lin for a number of vears and subsequently 
emigrated with his fafnily to Canada in 
183 1, locating in Greenville. After his son. 
Robert James Anderson, emigrated to Cin- 
cinnati, he and his wife also made their way 
to the United States and spent their last 
years in Covington, just acr(iss the river 
from the Ohio city. 

In the schools of Ireland, Robert James 
Anderson acquired his education and be. 
too. became an accountant there. l)Ut his 
business connection with his native country 
was of short duration as he came with his 
parents to the new world and in i8_^8 he 
went to Cincinnati, where be became book- 
keeper for and a member nf the firm "f 
James Beatty & Company, extensive pork- 
packers of tliat city. It was during his resi- 
dence there that he wedded Mary J. Whit- 
ney, a daughter of William W. Whitney, 
whose ancestors came to .America with a 



Massachusetts Bay colon\- in 1635. Sever- 
ing his business relations in Ohio Rol^ert J. 
Anderson came to Keokuk in 1857 and re- 
mained an active factor in business circles 
of this city until iiis death in 1891. His 
widow still survives him and has reached 
the advanced age of eighty-one years. Both 
were consistent and active members of the 
.Methodist Episcopal church. 

Acquiring his early education in the 
public schools of Cincinnati, James H. An- 
derson continued his studies in the high 
school of Keokuk, from which he was grad- 
uated. His loyalty stood the test of the 
Ci\il War and was demonstrated bv his ac- 
tive service with the First Northeast Mis- 
souri Regiment of Volunteers and which 
afterward became the Twenty-first Missouri 
Volunteer Infantry. He continued with the 
latter command for si.x months and was tak- 
en prisoner on the 14th of September, 
i86t, after which he was paroled and re- 
turned to his home. The regiment re-en- 
listed before he was exchanged, but with a 
characteristic feeling of honor he would not 
break his parole, and later re-enlisted in 
Company C, of the Forty-fifth Iowa In- 
fantry. The regiment w-as assigned to Ten- 
nessee in 1864 and he remained with that 
command until mustered out at the close of 
his term of enlistment. 

Subsequent to his return to civil life 
James II. Anderson enterctl upon the 
study of law in the office and under the 
direction of John H. Craig and was ad- 
mitted to the bar by examination at Keo- • 
sauqua, Iowa, on the nth of March, 1866. 
On the nth of November, 1867, he entered 
into partnership with Mr. Gilmore, an at- 



86 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



torney of Keokuk, having a ver\' large prac- 
tice. This association under the firm name 
of Gihnore & Anderson was continued until 
the death of the senior partner August 31, 
1881, and they were classed with the most 
prominent law firms of the city and of 
southeastern Iowa. Mr. Anderson has at 
different times been associated in practice 
with his brother and with James C. Davis, 
but is now alone. He is a forcible and con- 
vincing speaker, a fluent writer and trusted 
ofiice adviser, having acairate and compre- 
hensive knowledge of the principles of juris- 
pnidence. He has ever prepared his cases 
with great fairness and care and his analyt- 
ical mind and gift of oraton,- has enabled 
him to present his case so that his deduc- 
tions have followed in logical sequence and 
with a force of a strong climax. He is one 
of the few members of the bar who have 
practiced here continuously since 1867 and 
his legal business extends to the higher 
courts and to the supreme court of the 
United States. 

Had Mr. Anderson accomplished noth- 
ing save what he has done in connection 
with the conduct of important litigated in- 
terests he would be entitled to representation 
in this volume as one of the leading profes- 
sional men of Keokuk, but his labors have 
been extended to other fields of activity re- 
sulting in great benefit to the cit\-. He may 
well be termed a promoter in this connection, 
for with ready recognition of needs and 
possibilities he has so utilized the means at 
hand as to produce results whose far-reach- 
ing and beneficial influence will be ever 
found in later generations. Figuring in 
financial circles, he was for ten vears a di- 



rector of the State National Bank of Keo- 
kuk. He was also the organizer and the 
president of the Keoktik Water Works Com- 
pany that built and put in successful opera- 
tion the water works system of the city. 
He was vice-president and manager of the 
Keokuk & Northwestern Railway when it 
was built. He was one of the original pro- 
moters of the Keokuk Street Railway and 
was president at the time of the building of 
its line. He has also erected many resi- 
dences in the city and purchased the land 
and laid out the Keokuk public park, which 
after he had greatly improved it and which 
today is one of the handsomest public parks 
in the West, he sold to the city for less than 
its cost to liim. In connection with W. S. 
Sample he purchased, fenced and laid out 
the property and made a boulevard around 
Keokuk, which was afterward donated to 
the city, public-spirited citizens assisting him 
in this worthy enterprise by generous sub- 
scriptions. Mr. Anderson has frequently 
been solicited to accept public office and un- 
doubtedly could have received any political 
preferment within the gift of his fellow 
townsmen, but he has no aspirations in that 
direction preferring that his service in be- 
half of Keokuk should be done as a private 
citi;^en. He has always been deeply inter- 
ested in educational affairs and was presi- 
dent of the school board for three years, 
during which time the fine high school 
building was erected, the work receiving his 
earnest endorsement and co-operation. 

On the i2th of March. 1868. occurred 
the marriage of James H. Anderson and 
Miss Anna Riggs, who was bom at Brook- 
ville. Indiana, and thev have five children. 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



87 



of whom three are Hving-: Edwin G.. who 
is an agriailtural implement manufacturer 
of Council Bluffs, as a member of the firm 
of E. Children & Sons ; Elizabeth, the wife 
of John W. Atwood, manager of the Big 
Four Implement Company at Council 
Bluffs, Iowa ; and David P., who is a book- 
keeper for his brother. Mr. and Mrs. An- 
derson are members of the Unitarian church, 
in which he has held various offices. From 
the age of twenty-one years he has been a 
Mason and was at one time identified with 
the Knight Templar Commandery. He be- 
longs to Torrence Post, No. 12, Grand 
Army of the Republic. In 1870 he erected 
a fine residence at Fourth and Morgan 
streets, which he has since occupied and in 
the social life of the city as well as in its 
professional circles and public interests he 
was prominent. He stands today among 
those who are building for themselves last- 
ing monuments in the success which they 
accomplish through capability and merit 
and in the effective effort which they put 
forth along lines that result beneficially to 
their fellownien as well. 



LAWRENCE SMITH. 



A young man who has within a few 
years attained for himself an enviable posi- 
tion in the financial circles of Lee county is 
Lawrence Smith, of West Point. Mr. Smith 
was born in Hancock county, Illinois, Oc- 
tober I, 1874, the son of Riley Smith. He 



received his early education in the district 
school, and later attended college at Quincy, 
Illinois, from which he was graduated in 
the classical and commercial courses in tlie 
class of '93. Shortly after his graduation 
he began his independent career bv remov- 
ing to West Point, Iowa, and identifying 
himself with the private bank known as the 
Bank of West Point, having a capital of 
$15,000, with Riley Smith as president, 
Frederick Kriekenbaum vice-president and 
Air. Smith as bookkeeper and assistant 
cashier, acting in this capacity until Novem- 
ber, 1896, when he became the cashier and 
has since filled this position. 

In 1896 Mr. Smith was united in niai- 
riage to Miss Anna Hutchinson, a native of 
\\'est Point, and they have one daughter, 
■Muriel. Mr. and Mrs. Smith attend the 
Methodist Episcopal church, of which Mrs. 
Smith is a member. In matters pertaining 
to politics Mr. Smith maintains an independ- 
ent attitude, never casting his vote accord- 
ing to partisan distinctions, but giving his 
support to those who in his opinion are in- 
dividually best qualified for the public serv- 
ice. He enjoys the general esteem in the 
county and town of his adoption, and in 
1904 was elected to the office of Mayor of 
West Point on an independent ticket. Fra- 
ternally, he is a member of the Modern 
Woodmen of America. 

Mr. Smith devotes his entire time dur- 
ing office hours to the banking business, and 
his experience here has been one of un- 
broken success. This being the only bank 
in the northwestern part of Lee county, it 
draws from a very extensive and resourceful 
tributarv territon', and the choice of location 



88 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



reflects credit upon the founder. Mr. 
Smith's residence in \\'est Point is an ar- 
tistically designed edifice of impressive pro- 
portions, modern in its appointments and 
of pleasant surroundings, and is the centre 
of a refined and cultured social circle. He 
possesses talents of no mean order, and by 
virtue of his well-known character of high- 
minded integrity and frankness, qualities 
which mark his contact witli others in all 
relations of life, he is accorded respect 
wherever known, and is justh' considered 
one of the rising young men of Lee county. 



THEODORE B. SNYDER. 

Theodore B. Snyder, a resident of Fort 
Madison, where he has been successfully en- 
gaged in general legal practice for a num- 
ber of years, is a native of Des Moines 
county, Iowa, the date of his birth being 
1845. Mr. Snyder began his education in 
the public schools, and later entered Iowa 
Wesleyan University at Mount Pleasant, 
where he pursuerl the classical course of 
study, being graduated with the degree of 
Uachelor of Arts with the class of '69. He 
then began reading law in the city of Bur- 
lington, and afterward entered the law de- 
partment of Iowa State University, from 
which he was graduated in 187 1. He lo- 
cated in Burlington, and continued in the 
practice of his profession there until his re- 
moval to Fort Madison in 189 1, where he 



has met with a very gratifying measure of 
success. 

Shortly after his graduation from Iowa 
State University Mr. Snyder was elected, 
although a young man, to the position of 
county superintendent of schools of Des 
Moines county, and on the expiration of his 
term was re-elected. He was also elected, 
while a resident of that county, to a num- 
ber of minor ofifices. 

Mr. Snyder is a son of Andrew and 
Sarah (Baker) Snyder. The father was a 
native of Ohio, but being of an enterprising 
disposition, came west in 1844 with the ob- 
ject of sharing the more abundant opportu- 
nities of a new country, and settled near 
Burlington, where he continued his business 
of farming for the remainder of his life. 
He died at his country home August 3, 
.1885. at the age of eighty-two years and 
nine months. The death of his wife oc- 
curred December 24, 1882, in her seventy- 
fifth year. He was a successful farmer, 
and by the exercise of energy, care and abil- 
ity attained to a very prosperous condition. 
He was the father of ten children, four of 
v.hom survive. 

On Februar\- 25, 1880, Mr. Snyder was 
united in marriage to Miss Mary L. Dor- 
gan, who is a native of Massachusetts. Mrs. 
Snvder is the daughter of C. P. Dorgan, now 
deceased, and Man,- J. Dorgan. Her father 
was engaged in the shoe business at Brock- 
ton, Alassachusetts, near which his widow 
still lives. 

Mr. and Mrs. Snyder are the parents of 
four children, all of whom were born at 
Burlington and all survive. They are : Ma- 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



89 



rie L., who is a graduate of Brockton, Mas- 
sachusetts, liigli school ; Garnet L.. and 
Arlecn I... who are grackiates of Fort Mach- 
son high school; and Erlon L., who is at 
the present time in California. All ha\e 
received advantages of excellent schooling 
and education. 

Mr. Snyder is a member of the Iowa 
State Bar Association and of the Lee County 
Association. In his fraternal relations he is 
connected with the Masonic order, being 
a member of Stelle Lodge, 440, Free and 
Accepted Masons, and of Potowonok Chap- 
ter, No. 28, Royal Arch Masons. He gives 
his entire attention to the line of effort with 
which he is directly connected with the pros- 
perity and progress of the community, and 
it may justly be said of him that he is a 
valued and valuable member of his profes- 
sion. His ability has w"on him admirers, 
and his tact and social qualities, together 
with the confidence inspired by his well- 
known integrity in all relations, have made 
him manv friends. 



JOHN B. UNDERWOOD. 

In taking up the history of the represent- 
ati\'e men of Lee county, especial mention 
must be made of John B. L^nderwood, an 
early .settler of the county, a representative 
of one of its most prominent pioneer families 
and a well-known and influential citizen. A 
native of the Empire state, the date and 
place of his birth being Columbia county, 



New York, April 5, 1828, he removed with 
his parents when eight years of age to Che- 
nango county, where he remained until 1853, 
when, having attained to years of maturity, 
and being possessed of an ambitii)n to 
achieve for himself a career of honor, use- 
fulness and independent success, he decided 
in favor of the great W^est as the scene of 
his future labors, and coming to Iowa, lo- 
cated in Lee county. Here he engaged in 
the lumber business at Montrose, meeting 
with much success in this pursiu't. 

Later Air. Underwood returned to his 
native state for a short time, but came again 
to Lee county in 1857. purchasing a fine 
farm of 160 acres in Van Buren township 
and there establishing a home which has 
ever since been his place of residence, im- 
proving the wild land and adding to his 
real-estate holdings until he now owns 240 
acres of fertile and productive lands, almost 
all of which he has placed under cultivation. 
Here he makes a specialty of stockraising, 
limiting his attention to the finer and more 
choice varieties, and conducts general fann- 
ing on a large scale. .\ thorough believer in 
modern methods, he has equipped his farm 
with the latest and most approved apparatus, 
has introduced new ideas into its operation, 
and by the e.xercise of sound and practical 
business judgment has succeeded in secur- 
ing a most gratifying return for his time and 
thought, having achieved a success which 
must be considered extraordinary even in 
this land of large successes. He has erected 
a large and substantial dwelling house in 
the midst of beautiful grounds, and here en- 
joys in well-earned case the fruits of his 
care and toil. 



90 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



Mr. Underwood is al^le to trace much of 
his success in Hfe to early training- and the 
advantages derived from sturdy New Eng- 
land ancestry, he being the son of Artch and 
Rhody (Chapin) Underwood, both of 
wliom were born in Berkshire county, Mas- 
sachusetts. The father was a farmer all his 
life, with the exception of teaching at 
Livingston Manor for four years and the 
son was his assistant in the work until he 
reached manhood, meanwhile receiving a 
good common-school education in the public 
schools of Chenango county. New York. 
The death of the father occurred in the 
se\'entv-sixth year of his age. and the mother 
attained to the age of seventy-seven years. 
They were the parents of nine sons and 
daughters, of whom Mr. Underwood, our 
subject, was the youngest and is now the sole 
survivor. 

At Keokuk, on February i6, 1859, -^^''• 
Underwood was united in marriage to Miss 
Almeda Baldwin, who was born in the State 
of New York and there received her early 
education. She was the daughter of Stephen 
Baldwin, was a member of an excellent fam- 
ily, and manifested in her life high qualities 
of Christian character, being a devoted wife 
and a kind and loving mother, of an alto- 
gether unselfish disposition, and always plac- 
ing the welfare of her family and others be- 
fore her own. She died May 7. 1898, at 
the age of sixty-two years, and was laid at 
rest in Croton cemetery in Van Buren town- 
.ship. 

To Mr. and Mrs. l^nderwood were born 
during their residence in Van Buren town- 
ship five sons and two daughters : George 



Allen, bom May 8, i860, died at the age of 
twenty years; Orlena. born August 4, 1862, 
died July i, 1863; Jeremiah H.. born April 
17, 1864, now residing with his father, mar- 
ried Miss Capitolia Kinnick, and has five 
children, John Earl, Nellie May, Carl, Hil- 
ton and George; Ralph W., born April 5, 
1867. died June 13, 1869: Philinda Estelle, 
lioni April 11, 1870, is the .wife of Perry 
McPherson, of Clark county, Missouri ; Isha 
Morell, bom July 25, 1872, and now resid- 
ing in the State of Washington, married 
Miss May Belle Starr and has one child, 
Roy; and Charles F., born May 11, 1877, 
(lied July 4. 1878. 

Mr. L'nderwood was a member and 
active worker in the Presbyterian church, 
while the church was here, but of late years 
there has been no church here of that de- 
nomination, as was also the late partner of 
his joys and sorrows, and has always given 
of his worldly goods in the cause of religion 
and supported all worthy charities, welcom- 
ing all opportunities to do good in a quiet 
and becoming manner. He has served the 
community in which he lives in variovis pub- 
lic capacities, having for a time acted as 
school director and treasurer and for a num- 
ber of years past holding the office of justice 
of the peace of his township. Politically, 
he affiliates with the Republican party, and 
his voice carries weight in its councils. By 
reason of his long residence here, his well- 
known ability, his success in whatever he 
has attempted, his honorable share in ad- 
vancing the moral and material welfare of 
the community, his steadfast devotion to 
the cause of right and justice and his admir- 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



91 



able Christian character lie has become 
known, by reputation at least, throughout 
Lee county, enjoys aniical)le intercourse with 
a laree number of friends, and is esteemed 
and respected wherever known. 



ROBERT AINSLEY GARDNER. 

Robert Ainsley Gardner, postmaster at 
\\'est Point and a rising and popular young 
man of this community, is a native son of 
Lee count)-. ha\ing been born at Dover, 
Franklin township, September 16, 1874, a 
son of James M. and Amanda Gardner, an 
account of whose lives and ancestr}' appears 
upon another page of this work. It was in 
the district schools that Mr. Gardner re- 
ceived his early education, which he has 
since supplemented, however, by wide read- 
ing and study, and in 1892 he matriculated 
in the Gem City Business College at Ouinc>', 
Illinois, from which institution he was grad- 
uated in 1893 with the degree of Master of 
Accounts. He began his independent career 
utterly without capital or other resources ex- 
cept his own native ability, borrowing 
money to pay the expenses of his college 
course, and has always depended solely upon 
his unassisted personal efforts for the suc- 
cess which he has achieved. 

After his graduation from business col- 
lege Mr. Gardner entered the photographic 
business in partnership with a Mr. Court- 
right, under the firm style of Gardner & 



Courtright. with studios both at West Point 
and Fort Madison, and lived at West Point 
until 1895. following which he removed to 
Fort Madison, but returned, at the expira- 
tion of a period of one year, to West Point, 
where he has since resided. Here he contin- 
ued in the photographic business for a num- 
ber of years with very gratifying success, 
but in 1900 he sold his interest to his part- 
ner, and purchased a half interest in a drug 
store at West Point in association with Dr. 
\y. S. Carpenter. This relation continued 
for only six months, however, and was ter- 
minatcfl by his election at the end of that 
time to the position of superintendent of 
the West Point public schools, whose many 
and complex responsibilities he met with 
eminent credit to his own ability and satis- 
faction to the public until the spring of 1901, 
when he resigned to accept the office of post- 
master, which he still holds. He took the 
oath of office on April i. 1901. and it was 
in Julv of that year and under his adminis- 
tration that the three nn-al delivery routes 
were established which have added so ma- 
terially to the efficiency and satisfactory 
service of the West Point office. On De- 
cember 17, 1895, he was united in marriage 
to Miss Belle Courtright, w-hose family his- 
tory is given in full under the name of J. 
C. Courtright elsewhere in the present vol- 
ume, and to them have been born two daugh- 
ters, Gertrude and Violet. Mr. and Mrs. 
Gardner are members of the Methodist 
Episcopal church of West Point, in which 
they are active workers, and contribute to 
the support of its regfular w-ork and numer- 
ous charities and philanthropic movements, 



92 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



holding the advancement of ethical ideals 
to be equally important with the attainment 
of material success in life. 

In fraternal circles Mr. Gardner is rec- 
ognized as occupying a leading position, sus- 
taining membership relations with Clay- 
poole Lfidge, No. 13, of the Masonic order 
at Fort Madison; with the Modern Wood- 
men of America at West Point, of which he 
is Past Venerable Consul; and with the 
Woodmen of the World in Rover Camp of 
Omaha, of which he is Past Counsellor 
Commander of the West Point Camp, now 
out of existeiice. He has occupied a promi- 
nent place in all organizations of which he 
has been a member- for any considerable 
time, and in 1S96 was vice-president of the 
Photographic Association of Iowa, while 
he was the first president of the Commercial 
League of ^^'est Point, a club of which he 
is a charter member, and held that office 
during the first t\vo years of its existence, 
during which time the organization was 
placed upon a firm footing and started well 
upon the road to that prosperity which it 
now enjoys. Politically, he is a believer in 
the principles of the great Republican party, 
for whose success he has worked with un- 
failing energy, tact and judgment, and the 
weight of his personal popularity and influ- 
ence has been of distinct advantage to the 
party in this section, while it has made his 
name known throughout Lee county as a 
positive force in afifairs of local government. 
In 1904 he served as delegate to the state 
convention at Des Moines, and has also 
served several terms as township committee- 
man with signal ability. Mr. Gardner is 
one of those voung men characteristic of 



America who, working their way upward 
from humble beginnings, have attained hon- 
ored places among their fellowmen by the 
practice of the old-fashioned virtues of per- 
severance, integrity and courtesy, and while 
his present standing is in all respects an 
enviable one, it is safe to predict for him 
still greater things in future. 



JOHN H. SMUTZ. 



One of the more successful farmers and 
rising yoimg men of Cedar township, Lee 
count}-. Iowa, is John H. Smutz, who was 
born N<nember 28. 1870, in \^an Buren 
county. Iowa, the son of Benjamin R. and 
Sarah Jane Smutz. During his boyhood he 
received a good education in the public 
schools of his native county, a preparation 
for acti\e life wliich he has since supple- 
mented by extensive reading, and until at- 
taining his majority he assisted materially 
in the work of his father's farm, acquiring 
a familiarity with the underlying principles 
of agriculture and farm management and 
making a study of the various problems 
which must be understood and mastered in 
order to achieve success in this line of en- 
deavor. 

On March 10, 1891, Mr. Smutz was 
united in marriage to Miss Cora McCracken, 
who was born in Harrisburg town.ship, Van 
Buren county, Iowa, and they removed to 
Lee county, where Mr. Smutz purchased 
105 acres of land forming a portion of his 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



93 



present taini. which uriiiinal purcliuse he 
lias increased until lie now owns a tract ot 
1^9 1-2 acres. Here he conducts general 
fanning and stockraising, and hv the exer- 
cise of energy, enterprise, care and atten- 
tion to tlic details of managenienl he has l)ecn 
very successful in securing from the soil 
large retimis for lahor, time and thought 
expended, and has proved himself fidly ca- 
pahle of grappling with this particular in- 
dustry in its complex modern ])hases. While 
the land was originally unimproved, it is 
now in a high state of cultivation, and all 
the im])rovements. which are of the -latest 
designs, are the work of ^Ir. Snuitz. in- 
cluding the farm buildings and the hand- 
some and commodious new residence build- 
ing. The home has a pleasant atmosphere 
of hospitality, and is the scene of much so- 
cial intercourse of an enjoyable nature, Mr. 
and Mrs. Smutz being very popular young 
people in their community and having many 
fricijds. ?^Irs. Smutz has enjoyed consider- 
able educational advantages, and is a lady 
of unusual ability, ha\ing been for five years 
a teacher in the schools of Van Burcii town- 
ship previous to her marriage. She comes 
of an old and well-known Van Buren county 
family, her parents being still residents of 
that county, and is the third of a family of 
seven brothers and sisters. The father of 
Mr. Smutz also still continues to reside in 
\'an I'.uren county, although the wife and 
mother is now deceased: and he is the sec- 
ond of a family of three. To Mr. and Mi-s. 
Smutz have been born three sons and two 
daughters, Craig, Merle, Harley. Ralph and 
Gladys. 

Mr. Smutz has ever shown sympathy 



with all moNements calculated to advance 
the material and luor.d interests of the com- 
munit}- in which he li\es. and attends and 
supports the Baptist church, of which Mrs. 
Snuitz is an acti\e memlier, and while he 
has never sought for himself the aihentitious 
honor which attaches to public office, he has 
given much thought to political questions as 
affecting the prosperity of country, state and 
nation, and early united with the Republican 
party as the liest means of expressing his 
views on current issues in a practical man- 
ner. He is widely known throughout this 
section, as a young man of marked business 
aliilitv. and has many friends wh(j ])redict 
for him a future bright with honor and suc- 
cess as the reward of conscientious effort. 



HENRY HELLING. 



Prominent in the business and political 
life of Lee county is Henry Helling, of Fort 
Madison, a native son of the city. The date 
of his birth was January 2t,. 1863, and he 
is of (German extraction, his parents having 
come from Germany in 1852. His father. 
Theodore Helling, was a teamster, and 
while living in Fort Madison was employed 
by Atlee & Wilson, lumber dealers. The 
mother was Theresa (Shoemaker) Helling. 
Her death occurred here in March, 1903. 
To Theodore and Theresa Helling were 
l)orn nine children, six of whom are still 
living. They are : Barney, of Fort Madison ; 
Mary, wife of Theodore Ples.ser. of Du- 



94 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



buque, Iowa; Anton, of Fort Madison; 
Theresa, wife of M. F. Dettnier, of Dallas, 
Illinois; Henry, the subject of this sketch, 
and Katherine, of Fort Madison. 

Mr. Helling received his education in 
Saint Mary's parochial school, and in 1876, 
after leaving school, he entered the employ 
of the Weston Linnber Company, working 
in the planing mill, where he remained four 
years. This was followed l)y a period of 
three vears spent in the planing mill of S. 
& J. C. Atlee, and then he accepted a po- 
sition at Davenport, Iowa, with the J. S. 
Keater Lumber Company, but returned to 
Fort Madison at the expiration of a year. 
At the end of a further three years of active 
experience he was promoted to the position 
of foreman of the Knapp Stout Lumber 
Company's planing mills, in which position 
he continued successfully for five years. 

In 1891 he began an independent busi- 
ness career by the purchase of a general 
store at the- corner of Fourth and Arch 
streets. The style of the firm was Nelle & 
Helling, the partner being Miss Minnie 
Nelle. 

On June 6, 1889, ^^^- Helling was mar- 
ried to ^Miss Alary Nelle, who was born at 
Fort Madison September 12, 1865. L'nto 
them have been born seven children, as fol- 
lows : Evelyn, bom February 28, 1 890 ; 
Henry, born September 11, 1892; Herman, 
born June 18, 1894: \\'alter, born October 
25, 1896; Celina. born November 10, 1898; 
Vincent, born January 5, 1901, and Dorothy, 
born April 28, 1904. Mrs. Helling is a 
daughter of Herman and Theresa (Kemp- 
ker) Nelle, both deceased. They were born 
in Germanv, but were married in Fort Madi- 



son. Air. Nelle was a porkpacker and gen- 
eral merchant, and was a very prominent 
business man. In his religious affiliation he 
was a Catholic, and in politics a Democrat, 
and was a member of the board of alder- 
men. His death occurred at nine o'clock on 
the evening of November 29, 1881, at which 
date he had attained the age of fifty-three 
years. Mrs. Nelle, who was born Decem- 
ber 28, 1830, died March 11, 1901. They 
were the parents of nine children, six of 
whom grew to maturity. Those living are : 
Bernard, of Fort Madison : Minnie : Marv ; 
Theresa, wife of George Lohman, and 
Frank, of Fort Madison, who married Miss 
Rose Wagner. Katherine, second of those 
who attained years of maturity, is now de- 
ceased. 

Mr. Helling, by reason of his natural 
gifts, takes a prominent part in social af- 
fairs, as well as in business afid civic life. 
He is president of Saint Joseph's Society, a 
benevolent organization, a member of the 
Iowa Alutual Protective Society, and of 
the Bene\olent and Protective Order of 
Elks. In his religious faith he is a member 
of Saint Mary's Catholic church. For 
twenty years he has been a member of the 
\olunteer fire department and for two years 
its chief. He has been a lifelong supporter 
of the Democratic party, its principles and 
its leaders, and has borne an important part 
in the service of his party in public capaci- 
ties. He is at the present time a member of 
the count}- central committee, representing 
the fourth ward of Fort Madison, and has 
served in state and congressional conven- 
tions. For four years he acted as alderman 
from the fourth ward, having received the 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



95 



office at the hands of his felltiw citizens on 
account of his general popularity and rep- 
resentative character, and during the last 
year of his incumhency was president of the 
Ijoard of aldermen. He was formerly a di- 
rector of the Fort Madison Building and 
Loan Association, but is now less active in 
that work. 

Mr. Helling began life at the bottom of 
the ladder, without aid and without capital. 
and all he has acquired has come to him by 
virtue of his own frugality, industry, care 
and natural talents. He is, in a word, a self- 
made man. and his success under such ccju- 
ditions is a more fitting commentary on his 
character than any tribute that might be 
framed in words. 



JAMES MAXWELL 



James Maxwell, the postmaster of 
Primrose, Harrison township, and also hold- 
ing the office of clerk of the township, was 
born in Franklin township, Lee county, De- 
cember 31, 1864, and has lived in this county 
all his life. Still in the prime of life, though 
the shadows are beginning to creep a little 
backward, he is a striking example of what 
Iowa can do in the way of building man- 
hood, strong and vigorous, clear-eyed, and 
bearing himself with the unabated strength 
of full maturity. The record of his life 
shows that on many occasions he has sought 
the public good at the expense of his own 
personal welfare, and he has ever been reach- 



to sacrifice himself and his own interests to 
advance the fortunes of his friends and im- 
prove the neighborhood. Such men have 
many friends, and richly merit the kindly 
feeling in which they are held by those who 
know them best. Mr. Maxwell well de- 
serves the affectionate regard of a wide cir- 
cle of friends and acquaintances, who hold 
him high as a man, a citizen and a friend. 

James Maxwell was educated in the pub- 
lic schools of Primrose, and in due time he 
graduated from the local high school. In his 
earlier years he assisted his father in his 
farming enterprises, and was engaged in 
farming until five years ago.; when he came 
to town and opened a confectionery store, 
and at the same time establishing a barber 
shop. Almost immediately he found a wave 
of popularity running his way, and be was 
able to obtain the office of postmaster, when 
a change became due about a year ago. This 
position he still holds, and its duties are ad- 
ministered to the pre-eminent satisfaction of 
the patrons of the office. 

Mr. Maxwell is a son of Joseph and 
Sarah Jane (\Mlliams) Maxwell. The fa- 
ther was born in Ireland, and the mother in 
Pennsylvania. He left Ireland when he was 
but nineteen years of age. and coming to 
the LTnited States, sjient some years in Ohio. 
In 1862 he looited in Lee county, Iowa, buy- 
ing a farm in Cedar township, which, how- 
ever, he occupied only two years, when he 
sold it, and buying a place in Harrison town- 
shij), made that his home in 1870. dwelling 
there until his death, .\pril 6. 1872. at the 
earlv age of forty-five years. He was a 
weaver by trade in the old country ; but after 
his arrival in this countrv devoted himself 



96 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



to the cultivation of the soil. His widow 
survived him many years, and entered into 
the life immortal January 9, 1901, at the age 
of seventy-one. She was the mother of eight 
children ; of whom only four are now living. 
Both father and mother were buried in the 
Sharon cemetery, Harrison township. Of 
the four living children of Joseph and Sarah 
Jane Maxwell brief mention may be made : 
Sarah is the wife of Henry L. McMillan. 
The_\- live in Milton, Van Buren county, 
Iowa. Joseph A. is a school teacher, and has 
his home in Canton, Illinois : Nannie is the 
wife of Alonzo J. W'arson, a noted farmer 
of Harrison township, and they are now liv,- 
ing on the old Maxwell home farm. The 
fourth surviving member of the family is 
the one whose career forms the subject of 
this writing. Those who are dead are as fol- 
lows : Esther died at the age of three years, 
and hers was the first body to be interred 
in Sharon cemetery. Elizabeth died when 
only six months old. Maggie and John 
Francis were drowned in Sugar Creek, three 
miles west of West Point, their grandfather 
losing his life in the water at the same time. 
The three had been trading in West Point 
one day in the early spring, and upon return- 
ing found the Creek had greatly increased 
in volume. When they attempted to cross, 
they were swept away and drowned. This 
was a sad day, and long remembered in the 
family, March 22, 1874. 

Personally Mr. Maxwell is a genial and 
delightful gentleman, and his is a welcome 
presence in the various fraternal circles with 
which he is connected, the Knights of Pyth- 
ias, of Donnellson, and the Primrose Camp 
of the Modern ^^'^)()<lmen of America, of 



which he has been clerk since its organiza- 
tion. In politics he is a Republican, and 
has filled the office of town clerk for the 
last two years. In religion be belongs to the 
Presbyterian church, and his daily life and 
doings have brought no shame to his pro- 
fessions. 



AUGUST BRODT. 

One of the oldest living citizens of Lee 
county is August Brodt, of Green Bay town- 
ship, who has passed the ninety-third an- 
niversaiw of his birth, and claims Germany 
as the land of his nati\'ity, where, during 
the earlier part of his life he pursued the 
profession of forestry with marked success 
and considerable pecuniary profit. Thence 
w ith his family he emigrated to America in 
1853, taking passage from Bremen in the 
first steam vessel that ever cleared from that 
port, landing after a voyage of twenty-six 
days' duration, at New York, and proceed- 
ing at once to Green Bay township, Lee 
count)-, Iowa, where he arrived in Septem- 
ber of that year, and shortly after purchased 
a tract of 360 acres of fine farming 
lands, together with much farm stock and 
the household furniture of the previous 
owner, for all of which he ])aid $7,000 in 
cash. Here he has passed the greater num- 
ber of the succeeding years, although he 
has spent not a little time in travel, having 
crossed the Atlantic ocean nine times, in 
company with his wife, and on one of their 
tri]is to the Fatherland they passed two 




AUGUST BKODT 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



99 



years there, while at another they prolonged 
their stay to ten years, returning to Amer- 
ica in 1895. He has given much attention 
to agricultural matters, taking rank among 
the most cnler])rising farmers of the county, 
as he is also one of the most successful, con- 
fining his efforts to general farming and 
stockraising, but for a number of years he 
has been li\ing in retirement from the active 
life of Inisiness. 

Before leaving Germany Mr. Brodt was 
xuiited in marriage to Miss Caroline Schur- 
I)ert, who was the constant companion of 
his labors and cares until 1897, when her 
death occurred, in the seventy-seventh year 
of her age, and she was buried in Claypoole 
cemetery, which is located on the farm 
formerly owned In- her husband and now 
the property of their daughter. Mrs. Laura 
T^angerbeck. To tliem were Ixirn eight chil- 
<lreii, four of whom came with them to 
America, as follows: Laura, who is now 
the sole .survivor of the number; Bertha, 
who died at the age of twenty-six ; Robert, 
who was accidentally shot and killed at the 
age of sixteen, and one child which died in 
infancy. Laura, who was in her fifteenth 
year when she accompanied her parents to 
America, was first united in marriage to 
Peter Mueller, who was of German 
birth, and to their imion were born 
a son and a daughter: Harry !•'.. 
the present clerk of Green Bay tovvn- 
shi|), who married Miss Alma Pachley, 
and has five children: Edgar, Robert, 
Laura, .Arnold and Margaret, and Ellen, 
the wife of Robert Langc. a sketcii of whose 
family is given elsewhere in this volume. 
Mr. Mueller bciner in feeble health, he re- 



turned to Germany in hope of receiv- 
ing relief, but in this he was destined to 
disappointment, and in 1867 he died, and 
was buried in his native land. His widow 
was afterwar<l remarried, ]ier second hus- 
band lieing Max Langeriieck. also a n;itive 
of (iermany. and to them were born two 
children, the elder of these being Edgar, 
now residing on his mother's farm, who 
married Miss .\lnia Lange. Their second 
child is Emma, who first married Mr. 
Krekel. by whom she had one daughter, 
Thea : siie is now the wife of Paul Bufe. 
They have a ver\- pleasant liome in tlie vil- 
lage of W'ever, Iowa, and are the parents 
of one child. Esther. 

Mr. Langerbeck is now deceased, his 
death having occurred in 1894. and he is 
buried in Claypoole cemetery. He was a 
man generally respected wherever known, 
and was quite prominent in local political 
affairs as a worker in the Democratic party, 
being at one time elected to the office of 
township clerk. Mrs. Langerbeck is a cul- 
tured lady of many social talents and graces 
and pleasing conversational powers, and has 
had the advantage of considerable travel, 
including a trip to Europe nine years ago, 
when she visited Germany in order to ac- 
company her parents on their return. She 
is the owner at the present time of 376 acres 
of highly productive farming lands, with 
modern improvements and a beautiful and 
commodious brick dwelling, a home which 
she has made notable as the center of a 
profuse and kindly hospitality. 

Mr. Brodt, the subject of our sketch, is 
verv well known tin-oughout Lee county, 
and while lie has never cared to take an ac- 



lOO 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



tive slinre in pulilic affairs, always acting in- 
dependently in politics and not as a member 
of any party, he has ever shown an interest 
in advancing the higher welfare of his com- 
munitv. he being a faithful member of the 
Lutheran church, in which denomination his 
deceased wife was also an honored worker, 
and manifesting in all the varied relations of 
life a spirit of the highest integrity and 
justice. His large success has been fairly 
and honestly won by the exercise of native 
ability and conscientious application to 
duty, and the wealth he has acquired has 
made no man poorer, but has rather been a 
blessing to many, and for these reasons his 
name is held in respect by all. 



JAMES W. QUICKSELL. 

James W. Quicksell. deceased, was a 
respected citizen of Keokuk for many years 
and was an honored veteran of the Civil 
^^■ar. He was liorn in Philadelphia. Penn- 
sylvania. February \~. 1S42, pursued a com- 
mon-school education and came to Keokuk 
some time before the inauguration of the 
Civil War. Watching with interest the 
progress of events that presaged that great 
struggle, he resolved that if the South at- 
tempted to o\-ertliro\v the Union he would 
strike a blow in its defense, and in April, 
1861, enlisted as a member of Company A, 
Second Regiment of Iowa Infantry. He 
was a brave soldier, displaying his valor on 



many battlefields, and at all times and in 
all places did his full duty as a soldier. 
Three times he was wounded. The first in- 
jury was the result of an accident, a Ijayonet 
lieing thrust through the fleshy part of his 
arm when he was at Benton Barracks, St. 
Louis, in the fall of 1861. The second 
\'\-ound was recei\-ed at Shiloh, April 6, 
1862. the ball entering the right shoulder 
Ijlade near the spine and there remaining im- 
bedded until his death. It was this wound, 
in fact, that eventually caused his demise. 
He was again wounded when his regiment 
made its celebrated charge at Fort Donelson 
on the 15th of February, 1865. That was 
a most hotly contested engagement, the regi- 
ment losing two hundred and fifty-nine men 
and officers in killed and wounded, out of 
six Inindred and fifty. At Shiloh Mr. 
Quicksell was taken prisoner and confined 
by the Confederates in the hospital at Jack- 
son. Mississippi. He received kind treat- 
ment and good care from the enemv and 
tlie surgeons made every effort to extract the 
ball, but failed. Mr. Quicksell was parolled 
as soon as he was able to travel and re- 
entered the Union lines at Corinth. Mis- 
sissippi, but because of his injuries was dis- 
charged from the service and returned to his 
home. His patriotic spirit, however, was not 
f|uelled by the suffering he underwent and 
in Jruiuar}-. 1864, he re-enlisted as a mem- 
lier of Company C. Third Iowa Cavalry, and 
served throughout the remainder of the war 
as a \eteran recruit of the regiment. His 
father was also a soldier of the Civil War 
and at the age of eighty-four participated 
in the "grand review of the old soldiers" at 



LEE COUNTY. IOWA. 



lOI 



the national encampment of the Grand Army 
of the Repul)lic. held in Philadelphia, where 
he was living. 

When the war was over James W. 
Oiiicksell retnrned to Iowa and continued a 
resident of Keokuk until his death. He was 
a painter by trade and his capaljilitv in the 
line of his chosen vocation and his reliability 
in business were indicated by the fact that 
for thirty years he occupied the position of 
foreman with George Hill, painter and 
decorator, of Keokuk. 

At Fort Madison. Iowa, on the uth of 
March. 1868, Mr. Ouicksell was united in 
marriage to ]Mrs. Emma ( Ackley) Hay- 
ward. Her parents came to Iowa in 1856, 
from the vicinity of Cleveland, Ohio. Her 
father. Charles Ackley, was a teamster be- 
fore the war, when there were no railroads 
in this locality. When the ci>untry became 
involved in hostilities growing out of the 
slavery question, he became a "graybeard 
soldier," enlisting at St. Louis, Missouri, in 
the Seventeenth Missouri Infantry, with 
whicli he ser\-ed for about tw'O years, and 
then passed away October 2, 1863, dying of 
illness while in the army. His wife, who 
bore the maiden name of Elizabeth Bunyan, 
and was Ixirn near London, England, died 
in Paducaii, Kentucky, June 16, 1902. In 
their family were seven children : Franklin, 
of St. Louis, Missouri : W^illiam, living in 
Kansas City, Missouri; Mrs. Quicksell ; Ho- 
mer, of Keokuk: Mrs. Ellen Benson and 
Mrs. Minnie Meyers, both of Keokuk, and 
George, a resident of Fort Worth. Texas. 
There is also an adopted brother. Charles 
Ackley. living in Hamilton. Illinois. 

Mr. and Mrs. Quicksell became the par- 



ents of but two children: .\lonzo P., who 
was born November 16, 1872. and is a 
cooper, married Effie Lee Watson, of Padu- 
cah. Kentucky. Bessie May. Ijorn January 
16, 1880, bec:unc the wife of John Wacker, 
now a resident of Paducah. Kentucky. ;uid 
her death occurred July 31. 1901. There is 
one grandchild — Selma Louise Wacker, who 
was l)orn July 28. 1900, and lives with her 
grandmother, Mrs. Quicksell. 

Mr. Quicksell was a member of the 
Grand .\rmy of the Republic and his widow 
is a meml^er of Torrence Woman's Relief 
Corps, No. 100. In May, 1880, he erected 
a residence at No. 724 Paleau street, where 
his widow now resides. His death occurred 
August 16, 1898, and was deeply felt in the 
immediate circles of his friends, where he 
was held in high esteem for his personal 
worth. Within the last three years Mrs. 
Quicksell has lost her husband, tw^o sisters- 
in-law. a brother-in-law, her daughter and 
her mother. She is now living in the home 
which her husband Iniilt for her almost a 
quarter of a century ago, devoting herself 
to the care of her little granddaughter and 
to charitable work. 



EDGAR K. TOWNSEND. 

The last half century in Lee county is 
a period of great change. The untravelled 
prairies have been transformed into peopled 
regions, and the few ;nid scattered h:unlets. 
thin lines of frontier settlement, have be- 



I02 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



come prosperous and crowded centers of 
trade, while some very considerable cities 
have risen, prophecies of a Still more 
crowded population and more pressing in- 
dustrial development. Men who were Ijorn 
and reared in this county, and who are still 
enjoying an unabated manhood, have seen 
such a transformation. Like Caesar, they 
can say, "All of which I saw, and part of 
which I was." They have watched the 
growth of the county, and have done much 
to help things onward, as they have had 
strength and opportunity. Mr. Townsend, 
whose name appears above, has done his full 
share in the development of the conjmunity, 
in the history of which his own career forms 
an integral part. 

Edgar K. Townsend, orie of the higlily 
respected citizens of Lee county, and now 
residing on his farm of 247 acres in sections 
30 and 31. Harrison township, is a native of 
this county, and was born in the house he 
now occupies as a home, November 9, 1850. 
His early education was secured in the dis- 
trict schools of his native township, and 
while quite young he assisted his father in 
the cultivation of the home farm. His fa- 
ther, Clark Townsend, was born in Putnam 
county. New York, Januar\- 19, 1823, came 
to Iowa in 1845, spending the following win- 
ter in Farmington, and then purchasing the 
farm on which the subject of this sketch is 
now residing. It consisted of 160 acres, 
and here be made a home for himself, en- 
gaging in general farming, and also in stock- 
raising to a limited extent. Politically he 
was a Democrat, though he never held office. 
In religion he was a member of the Baptist 
church, which he served as deacon mam- 



years. About ten }ears before his death 
he left the farm and moved to Farmington, 
Iowa, where he led a retired life, and died 
April 25, 1899, when over seventy-five 
years old. 

The mother of Mr. Townsend, Sarah 
Elizabeth (Kelly) Townsend, was also born 
in Putnam county. New York, September 
II, 1822. She died in Farmington, Iowa, 
on August 5. 1898, and her rennins. with 
those of her husband, are at rest in the 
Farmington cemetery. Three of the four 
children to her marriage with Mr. Town- 
send are still living: Francis is a farmer 
in Harrison township ; be was l)orn in New 
York ; Edgar K. ; Albert is now engaged in 
the real-estate business in Farmington, Iowa, 
where he holds the position of justice of the 
])eace. Carrie married Benton Pool, and is 
now dead: a sketch of Mr. Pool appears on 
another page of this work. 

Edgar K. Townsend remained on the 
home farm, and after the death of the fa- 
ther, purchased it from the other heirs. 
From time to time he bad added to his farm 
holdings until he now owns 247 acres of 
exceedingly choice land, all of which is 
highly improved and brought to an advanced 
stage of cultivation. ]Mr. Townsend is de- 
voting much attention to stockraising and 
has more than a local reputation as a breeder 
of fine strains of stock, which attract much 
attention wherever exhibited. 

In ]wlitics Mr. Townsend is a Demo- 
crat, and takes an intelligent and thoughtful 
interest in public aflfairs. He is much es- 
teemed by his friends and neighbors, and 
takes a leading part in all local affairs. 

Mr. Townsend was married December 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



103 



II. 1873, to Miss Mary John, daughter of 
Griffith John. She was horn in Henr\- 
county, Iowa, and her father, who was a 
native of Ohio, came to Henry count}'. Imva. 
at an early day. There he engaged in farm- 
ing and stockhuying, and when lie died at 
Salem, Iowa, he was seventy-eight years of 
age. 

Mrs. Edgar K. Townsend was reared in 
Henn- countw where she was given a good 
education and well prepared for the duties 
and responsibilities of life. To her tnar- 
riage with Mr. Townsend have come two 
children to hless the union: Walter C., whi 1 
was born on the home place in Harrison 
township, and educated at the district 
school, and in the Farmington school, was 
married December 11, 1901. to Miss Ella 
Anders, a native of Primrose, Lee county. 
and a daughter of John .\nders. an e;irly 
settler, and now deceased. To their union 
have been born two children: Dorath\- M. 
and John Edgar. Normal C horn at the 
h(.)me place in Harrison township, is at home. 

Griffith John, the father of Mrs. Town- 
send, was married October 17, 1839, to 
Miss Caroline Brantover. He died March 
26. 1899. They were honorable and u])- 
right people, and are kindh- rememl^red by 
the old pioneers. 

Clark Townsend and his good wife were 
superior people. They were faithful and de- 
voted in their religious life, and made their 
faith a matter of daily living. 

Edgar K. Townsend and his faithful 
wife stand in the place of good men and 
women, and that they fill these places is no 
exaggerated praise. Their character is 
high, their word is good. 



JOSEPH H. D. CHENOWETH. 

Joseph H. 1). Chenoweth. of Keokuk, 
for thirty years in the postal service, a record 
which stands as incontroxertible evidence of 
his ability and fidelity, was bom in Jackson 
township. Lee count)', Iowa, on the 15th 
of February. 184J. He was named in honor 
of Jo,seph Ilauiilton Davies, who was killed 
in battle with the Indians near L.afavette, 
Indiana, in 181 1 — a great Indian fighter and 
pioneer for whom Thomas Jefferson Cheno- 
weth. the father of our subject, had the 
greatest admiration. The Chenoweth fam- 
ily for many generations, both in its direct 
and colhttcral branches, has been distinctively 
American. The great-grandfather. Richard 
Chenoweth. was a native of Virginia. He 
came west with George Rogers Clark to 
Kentucky. He was at the head of a colony 
that settled on the site where Louisville now 
stands. The Indians were troublesome and 
killed ni;my of these pioneers. Rich;u'd was 
the first sheriff of Jefferson county. Ken- 
tucky. Xot far from Louisville the Indians 
attacked Richard's home while the men 
folk were away. They scalped his wife, 
wuunded one of the hoys, two girls hid in 
the spring-house and escaped being seen by 
the Indians, the spring is called the "Cheno- 
weth" spring to this day. His wife re- 
co\ered from her injuries and lived for 
man\- years afterward. The grand- 
father was taken prisoner by the Indians, 
but his life was spared on account of his 
black hair, which the Indians admired very 
much. He was a soldier of the Mexican 
War. Thomas Jefferson Chenoweth, father 
of the subject, was born near Louisville, 



I04 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



Kentucky, January 12, 1809, and was reared 
upon the frontier and for many years lived 
the life of a pioneer. He was married near 
Franklin, Indiana, in 1833. to Miss Mary 
Wright, who removed to that state from 
Ohio. Mr. Chenoweth became a farmer by 
occupation and carried on agricultural pur- 
suits in the Hoosier state until 1837, when 
he came to Lee county. Iowa, and de\eloped 
a farm in Jackson township, upon which he 
continued to reside until his death, which 
occurred on the 21st of Aprii, 1880. His 
wife passed away July 16, 1878. In their 
family were eight children and those who 
reached adult age are Amanda, who died 
February 15, 1868: Henn,' Clay, a resident 
of California; Ruharna, who became the 
wife of Senator John Downey and died 
March 29, 1887, and Melvina. 

Joseph H. D. Chenoweth, of this family, 
pursued his education in the public schools 
such as were common at that day, the little 
temple of learning which he attended being 
a log structure. He was trained to habits of 
industry, economy and integrity iipon the 
home farm, worked in tlie fields through the 
montiis of summer and until crops were har- 
vested in the late autumn and remained upon 
the old homestead until nineteen years of 
age. when he joined the Union Army, serv- 
ing for three years. He enlisted on the 28th 
of July, 1 86 1, as a member of Company E, 
Seventh Iowa Infantry under command of 
Captain James C. Parrott and Colonel J. G. 
Lauman. of Burlington, Iowa, being with 
the Sixteenth Army Corps at the close of 
the war. His services during the greater 
part of the time were in the vicinity of Cor- 
inth, Alississippi. and Pulaski, Tennessee. 



Pie participated in the battle of the Shiloh, 
the siege of Corinth, and in many lesser en- 
gagements. He was mustered out August 
10, 1864, at Chattanooga. Tennessee, after 
three years' service and reached home on 
the 19th of the same month. 

Not long after his return !\Ir. Chenoweth 
began learning tlie marlile cutter's trade, 
serving a regular apprenticeship and worked 
in that line until 1871, when he entered the 
postal service on the 19th of October, as 
a clerk under Postmaster James C. Parrott. 
On the 26th of August. 1874. he was ap- 
pointed railway postal clerk by the late Judge 
George \\'. ]\IcCrary. then congressman 
from the first district. His run is on the 
Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad be- 
tween Keokuk and Des ]\Ioines. known as 
the Des Moines & Keokuk Railway post- 
office. In 1884, when the present fast mail 
was put on the Chicago. Burlington & 
Quincy Railroad from Chicago to Council 
Bluffs an increase in the postal force was 
needed on that line and men of marked ef- 
ficiency were chosen. Mr. Chenoweth was 
among the numl:)er. but he found that the 
long run and heavy work were aggravating 
])hysical afflictions sustained because of his 
army life and he, therefore, returned to his 
original run. He has been most capable 
during all this long period and now his 
active connection with the railway postal 
service covers thirty years. 

On the 15th of October. 1873, in Keo- 
kuk, Mr. Chenoweth was united in marriage 
to Miss Ida A. Pollard, who was born in 
Keokuk, September 27, 1852. They became 
the parents of five children, of whom four 
are living: Melrov Milton married Elizabeth 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



105 



Boudewyn and is a plumber of Keokuk : 
Cora (lied at the age of twenty-five years ; 
Joseph Downey, a graduate of Keokuk 
Dental College and is now practicing at 
Waverly, Illinois; Eva Maude, a graduate 
of the Keokuk high school, and Roy Logan. 
The family home is at Xo. 1206 High street 
and in addition to this property Mr. Cheno- 
weth owns a half interest in a Iniilding in 
tiie diiwntown business district. He be- 
longs to Torrence Post, No. 2, Grand Army 
of the Republic, to the Unitarian church and 
is a Republican in his political views. Fidel- 
ity to duty and to principal has e\'er been 
one of his salient characteristics and has 
won him unqualified confidence and respect. 
The same trait of character is manifest in 
his friendships and in the county in which 
his entire life has been passed he is held in 
the highest regard by those who know him. 



ETHAN L TREVITT. 



To pursue a career of service to human- 
ity and to rise by virtue of talent and integ- 
rity to a position of honor is an ambition 
well worthy of the most aspiring. Such 
has been the life history of Dr. Trevitt. He 
was born near Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, No- 
vember 12, 1862, the son of Rev. John Tre- 
vitt, a Baptist minister, and Emma (Bevins) 
Trevitt. Both parents were born at Birm- 
ingham, England, and were married in Eng- 
land just before John Trevitt entered the 
ministr>'. The mother died in Pennsylvania 



when Ethan L., who is the youngest of a 
family of eleven, was but three years of age. 
The following sons and daughters survive 
Iier: Enoch J., of Birmingham, England; 
Mrs. Kizie Vogan, of Washington, Penn- 
sylvania; Mrs. Anna Moorman, of Fort 
Madison; Mi.ss Sadie, of St. Louis; John E., 
of Fort Madison: Hem-y C, of Burlington, 
b>\va; Samuel W., of Alaska; Dr. Alfred 
W., of Wausau, Wisconsin. Those de- 
ceased were Lizzie and Minnie, who died in 
girlhood. 

The father removed with the family to 
Lee county in 1865, locating on a farm in 
Pleasant Ridge township. He died in Feb- 
ruary, 1871, at Bonaparte, Iowa, while con- 
ducting a revival meeting. The subject of 
this sketch received his education in the 
puljlic schools of Fort Madison and the Den- 
mark Academy at Denmark, this county, 
from which institution he was graduated in 
1879. In Fort Madison he became a tin- 
ner's apprentice, leariiing the trade and be- 
ing employed at that work for four years, 
and then in September, 1884, he entered the 
Eclectic Medical Institute, of Cincinnati, 
Ohio, from which he was graduated June 7, 
T887. The two years immediately follow- 
ing his graduation were spent in further pre- 
paring for the work of his profession at a 
Minneapolis hospital, and for two j-ears he 
was an interne of the hospital at Wausau, 
Wisconsin. In 1891 he returned to Fort 
Madison, and here established himself in 
the practice of his profession. He devoted 
his time exclusively, and with rather more 
than the ordinan.^ measure of success, to the 
work of his profession until September i, 
1897, when he was appointed by President 



io6 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



McKinley to the office of postmaster of 
Fort Madison, which position he still holds, 
having received reapiwintment from Presi- 
dent Roosevelt January 31, 1902. Despite 
the duties of his office he continues to give 
considerable attention to his medical prac- 
tice. 

In his fraternal connection Dr. Trevitt is 
a mem1)er of the BnitherhoDd of American 
Yoemen, and in politics has all his life loy- 
ally supported, as in his opinion most con- 
sistent with the general welfare, the Re^ 
publican party and its principles. In 1896 
he was president of the McKinley and Ho- 
bart club of Fort Madison, and served his 
party as delegate to the congressional and 
state conventions, and was also in attend- 
ance at the national convention. For a term 
of two years he sei^ved the city as physician 
to the board of health. 

On April 20, 1897, Dr. Trevitt was 
united in marriage at Burlington, Iowa,> to 
Miss Minnie W. Knoch, who was born at 
Franklin, Lee county, August 20, 1876, and 
they have their home at 11 15 Third street. 
To them has been bom one daughter, Evelyn 
L., her natal day being July 20, 1900. Mrs. 
Trevitt is the d'uigliter of John Kudch, a 
carpenter. He died in Louisville, Kentucky, 
to which place he had removed from Iowa. 
Mrs. Trevitt is one of a family of four sis- 
ters. Tile others are : Mrs. Harr\' Kent, who 
lives on a farm in Madison township: and 
Misses Emma and Valley Knoch, who live 
with their mother in Fort Madison. 

During Mr. Trevitt's incumbency as 
postmaster the revenues of the office have 
been increased from approximately $10,000 
annually to nearly $14,000 per annum, three 



rural routes have been established, the sal- 
arj" of the assistant postmaster has been ad- 
vanced from $700 to $1,100, that of the 
money order and register clerk from $600 
to $800, the salary- of the general delivery 
clerk has grown from $300 to $600, and an 
additional general delivery clerkship has 
been created, carrying a salan,' of $600 per 
annum. Moreover, there are not wanting 
those who affirm that the general efficiency 
and tone of the service rendered to the pub- 
lic have been constantly improved. Person- 
ally, Dr. Trevitt enjoys a gratifying degree 
of popularity. He is a man of much force 
of character and strong individuality, and 
his pleasant, social manner has won him a 
host of warm friends. 



JOSHUA 0. BEALL 

Joshua O. Beall, prominent ex-railroad 
man and now justice of the peace in Fort 
]\Iadison, was born in Washington county, 
Pennsylvania, July 4, 1828. the eighteenth 
of a family of twenty. lie is the son of 
Zephaniah Beall who was bom in 1773 in 
what is now the District of Columbia. The 
grand fatlicr, who was also named Zephan- 
iah. was in tiie Rex'olutionary War, and at its 
close was serving under General Crawford. 
He was a farmer, and in addition made a 
business of buying farm produce to the 
amount of about $5,000 for shipment to 
New Orleans, ^^'^hile on one of these ex- 
peditions he and his party, about six in all. 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



107 



were niunlered. and were never afterward 
lieard from. The mother of our subject was 
Mary Purcell, who was born in Greene 
county. Pennsylvania, about 1788 or 1790. 
the date not lacing clefinitel_\- knuwn. and died 
in 1S60. 

Mr. Bcall is proud of the fact that men 
f)f his l)l(»id have been engaged in e\-ery 
war w itliin the present borders of the Luited 
States since the Inihan massacre at James- 
town. His father served for tiiirteen 
months in the Indian War of 1790. In the 
War of the Reliellion two of liis sons and 
two of liis grandsons were mcmliers of the 
Federal .\rmv. while three of his grandsons 
were in the Confederate forces. Some of 
his brothers were engaged in the War of 
181J, and Reason Beall. a relative, was a 
member of Gen. William Henry Harrison's 
statif in that conflict. 

Ze])haniah Beall. the father, was twice 
married, and ten children were born of each 
marriage. He removed with his parents to 
Pennsylvania in 1774, and lived and died 
within three miles of the family's original 
place of settlement. Our subject was 
reared amid primitive conditions, attending 
school in a log building in which "slab" 
benches without backs did duty for seats, 
and receiving but six weeks of schooling 
each year, consisting of tiie traditional 
"three R's." He grew to maturity in the 
business of farming, and also for a time 
drove a wholesale and retail stoneware 
wagon, and bought beeswa.x, feathers, 
hides, etc. 

True to the s])irit and traditions of his 

forefathers, the Civil War had no sooner 

l)cgun than he was ready and anxious to 
7 



go til the fmnl. and on Xovem))er 14, 1S61, 
he enlisted at Washington, District of Co- 
lumbia, in Company I of the Fourth Penn- 
sylvania Volunteer Cavalry, in which he 
served as a second lieuten.anl. under Col. 
David Campbell, of Pittsburg, .\fter two 
months of provost duty at Washington he 
was ."^ent to join the Army of the Potomac, 
took ])art in the seven days' fight before 
Richnii md. the second battle of Bull Run. 
Fredericktown, Maryland; South Mountain, 
Maryland ; .\ntietam and finally the battle of 
Fredericksburg umler General Burnside. 
lint the constant hardships were too great 
for his constitution to be;u", and he suffered 
a complete physical collajjse, and was honor- 
ably discharged December J5, 1863. on ac- 
count of disability. 

Returning to his home in l'ennsyl\-;uiia, 
he came west in 1866. and was for a time 
at Streator. Illinois. From there he pro- 
ceeded to Monroe City, Marion county, Mis- 
souri, where he remained for seven years, 
then returning to Streator, whence he re- 
moved to Fort Madison in 1888, and here 
he has since resided. At Streator he was 
"first hand" in the roundhouse of the Santa 
Fe Railroad, having full charge under the 
master mechanic. Henry Randels, now de- 
ceased. He was with the same company, 
all told, about fifteen years. Prior to tliat 
engagement he had held positions with the 
Hannibal & .Saint Joseph, the Chicago, 
Pekin & Southwestern, ,ind the Chicago, 
Burlington &• Ouincy Railroad Companies, 
being employed while with the Hannibal & 
St. Joseph Company on the wrecking train. 
The aggregate of his r.iilro.id experience 
amounts to nearly thirty vears. On Decern- 



io8 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



ber 24, 1902, he retired from railroad work, 
and being elected by his fellow citizens 
justice of the peace for Madison township,, 
has since held that office. 

December 14. 1853, ^^i"- Beall was mar- 
ried at Fredericktown, Pennsylvania, to 
Elizabeth A. Donahho, who was born at 
that place in 183 1. To them were born six 
children, as follows: Cyrus D.. of Colorado; 
Mary, who died in 1889; Charles M., sup- 
posed to be deceased; John D., deceased; 
Mary B., dressmaker, who is at home, and 
Joshua L.. of Albia. Iowa. The other mem- 
bers of the family are of the Presbyterian 
faith, while ^[r. Beall is a Catholic. He is 
a member of the Grand Army of the Re- 
public at Streator, Illinois, and of the An- 
cient Order of United Workmen, in which 
order he has passed through the chairs and 
has twice served as delegate to the Grand 
Lodge at Galesburg and at Springfield, Il- 
linois. His first vote for a president of the 
United States was cast in 1848 for Zachary 
Taylor, and he has always been a loyal 
Democrat, although related by ties of kin- 
ship with the "peerless leader" of the Re- 
publican party, James G. Blaine. The 
grandmother of James G. Blaine was a sister 
of Mr. Beall's mother, Mary Purcell. ^Ir. 
Beall was personally acquainted with the fa- 
mous statesman, and last saw him in Wash- 
ington in 1 86 1. 

By reason of his honorable and upright 
life Joshua O. Beall is entitled to a promi- 
nent place in this volume, and for service 
rendered to his country in time of her need, 
the gratitude of all is his by right. It is 
with confidence that a sketch of his life is 
here presented, assured, as it is, of many 
interested readers. 



CHARLES MARTIN. 

Charles Martin, a widely known and 
prominent retired merchant of West Point 
and one of the present supervisors of Lee 
county, Iowa, was born in the Kingdom of 
Prussia October 20, 1839, of pure Ger- 
man ancestr}-, the son of Henry and Barbara 
(Geib) Martin, who were the parents of nine 
children, all born in Prussia, and who with 
their family emigrated to America. The 
voyage was made in a sailing vessel, and 
lasted sixty days, at the end of which they 
landed at the Port of New York and came 
thence directly to West Point, locating near 
the village in the year 1854. The father 
was a surgeon, but almost before he had 
time to begin the practice of his profession 
he was overtaken by an epidemic of typhoid 
fever, which was then raging, and died soon 
after his arrival here, and this terrible ca- 
lamity was followed a few weeks later by 
the death of his wife, and this by the death 
of the eldest son, all of whom succumbed to 
the same dread disease. 

Charles Martin, our subject, was the 
youngest of the family thus bereaved at one 
blow of its natural protectors and dearest 
earthly ties in a new and strange land. He 
had, however, received an excellent educa- 
tion in Germany, and so was not without 
means of self-support. After the death of 
his father he secured a position in a drug 
store in the village of West Point, which 
he retained for two years, and at the end of 
that time he entered the employ of \Y. R. 
Stewart, proprietor of a dr^^goods store, 
with whom he continued for a number of 
years, learning the details of the business 
and American methods. Later he estab- 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



109 



lished a store of his own. which he con- 
ducted for the long period of forty years, 
witli ver}' marked success, his energ}', tact 
and careful business judgment enabling him 
to win the good will of the public, and tlic 
same qualities making it possible for him to 
tide his business over the numerous financial 
panics and seasons of depression which have 
caused the ruin of so many commercial 
houses during the last half century. At 
the close of this successful career he sold the 
store to ^Ir. John Schroder, and has since 
been Ii\ing in retirement from active life, 
enjoying in well-earned ease the declining 
years of a life worthily spent in useful serv- 
ice to his fellowmen and in devotion to noble 
causes. 

On November i, i860, Mr. Martin 
wedded Miss Fannie L. Jarrett at her fa- 
ther's home in West Point township. Mrs. 
Martin was born August 10, 1836, in North 
Carolina, of Southern ancestry and came 
with her ])arcnts to Iowa in 1850. Unto 
them have been born three sons and four 
daughters, as follows : Nettie, wife of E. 
T. Alter, of West Point township ; Edward 
C, of Chicago; Hattie, wife of William H. 
Smith, of Oak Park, a suburb of Chicago; 
William ?T.. of Seattle, Washington; Emma ' 
E., wife of F. C. Daube, who resides with 
her parents ; and Ira and George, who died 
in childhood. To each of these, now so 
widely separated, was given a careful home 
training and a finished education such as 
would fit the recipient for the battle of life 
and for a high and worthy success in what- 
ever part it may be necessary to play. 

The extent of Mr. Martin's material 
achievements may be gauged by the fact that 



he is the owner of two fine farms, one in 
Marion township and the other in West 
Point township, as well as valuable residence 
property in the village, having erected a 
very pleasant dwelling house in which he 
receives his many friends and passes much 
of his time in reading. He was at one time 
largely engaged in real-estate operations in 
the village of West Point, having built fif- 
teen houses here, and thus contributed ma- 
terially to the advancement of the commu- 
nity in which he lives and displayed a very 
commendable public spirit as well as indi- 
vidual initiative and enterprise. These 
traits of his character have also manifested 
themselves in other ways, for he has borne 
an aggressive part in promoting the fortunes 
of the Republican party in this section, and 
such is the confidence reposed in him by his 
fellow citizens that he was the first Repub- 
lican ever elected to the office of county su- 
pervisor in Lee county, and received the re- 
markal)ly large majority of S73 votes. His 
first election to that position was in 1895, 
and in 1903 he was re-elected, each time for 
a term of three years, and liolds the office 
at the present time. He also served the vil- 
lage as recorder for a number of years, and 
for a term of years was secretary of the 
West Point Agricultural Society, and thus 
his life has been one of constant usefulness 
and of continued activity, having for its ob- 
ject the general welfare without hope of 
personal aggrandizement or reward. His 
nature is fundamentally religious, and he is 
a believer in tlie efticacy of the Christian 
faith' to elevate the ethical standards of so- 
ciet\-. and for this reason is a faithful mem- 
ber, as is also his wife, of the Presbyterian 



no 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



church at West Point, of which he is a. dea- 
con and the treasurer. He has done mucli 
to extend the influence of the church, and 
has given to its cause much thouglit and 
earnest effort, while his private Hfe lias been 
a true reflection of its teachings and has 
given no man cause to speak ill of the creed 
which he professes. The keynote of his 
life" and character is integrity and fidelity to 
his obhgations in all his relations with his 
fellowmen, and such has been the strict up- 
rightness and unswerving directness of his 
course that to him all accord admiration, re- 
spect and genuine regard. 



IRA STEPHEN SIMS. 

Ira Stephen Sims, now living retired fmni 
active business life on his farm of 120 acres 
on section 7, Jackson township. Lee county, 
Iowa, is a man who oWes, his success entirely 
to his personal and unassisted effort — who, 
from his early years has depended upon his 
own energ}', enterprise and judgment for 
the increase of his fortunes. He is, there- 
fore, deserving of being called a self-made 
man, and few if any have borne that high 
title with greater propriety or honi ir than he, 
while at the same time his modesty leads 
him to ascribe a large share of the credit 
to our American institutions and spirit of 
equality, which enable every man of ability 
to do as lie has done, and achieve for him- 
self an important and highly respected po- 
sition in the community in \\liich he lives. 



He was born June 14, 1836, in Wayne 
county, New York, and at the early age of 
sixteen years, after obtaining a good edu- 
cation in the public schools of the Empire 
state, he set out to begin his career in the 
world, having in view as the field i)f his 
labors the great undeveloped country known 
as the West. He located in Illinois, where 
he became a trusted agent for a contractor 
engaged in the construction of the Illinois 
Central Railroad between Centralia and \ an- 
dalia. His employer, Mr. Brigham, was 
so favorably impressed witli his ability and 
soundness of judgment that in 1850 he per- 
suaded him to come to Lee county, where 
he owned a farm, and here Mr. Sims was 
connected^ with the work and management 
of the farm for a period of six or eight years, 
at the expiration of which he went to Keo- 
kuk. Later he was entrusted with the su- 
])erintendency of the Hines farm in Jack- 
son township, in which capacit_\- he met 
with his usual success. While thus engaged, 
he also became superintendent of the freight 
lighter business in the Des Moines rapids 
of the Mississippi river, during the fall of 
the years when the water was low until the 
present canal being at tliat time unl)uilt. and 
it being necessar\- to transfer freight from 
packet to packet in boats of light draught 
which plied between Keokuk and Montrose. 
In 1870 he purchased his present farm of 
120 acres of fertile land, on which he has 
since continuously resided, and by constant, 
energetic and determined effort has trans- 
formed the tract from a wilderness covered 
with original forest to one of the most thor- 
oughly ailtivated and productive farms in 
Lee county. Here he has conducted general 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



Ill 



faniiiiis;' on an extensi\'e scale, and has given 
attentiiin to stockraising, especially in line 
horses, of which he has sold a number at 
very unusual i)rices. In the purely agricul- 
tural branch of his work he has been very 
successful, both in a ]iecuniar_\- way and in 
furthering the ujibuilding and development 
of this section of Iowa, for which he de- 
serves much credit. 

On June 14. i<'^50, Mr. Sims was united ■ 
in marriage at Keokuk to Miss Eliza 
Thompson, who was born in Birmingham, 
England, in 1840, came to America in 1848 
with her parents and settled in Bond county, 
Illinois, where she lived for five years Ijefore 
removing to Iowa. The father, who was 
in his native countn- a hardware merchant, 
but was engaged as a bookkeej^er during 
his entire residence in this country, was a 
man of much ability, and was generally re- 
spected for his talents and his character. 
The family after a time removed to Des 
Moines, where the deaths of both parents 
occurred. Mrs. Sims has borne an active 
share in the management of the farm, has 
made her home the center of a much prized 
hospitality, and by many is her name spoken 
in tones of esteem and affection. To Mr. 
and Mrs. Sims have been torn five sons and 
two daughters, as follows : George, now a 
resident of Montana: Clara, who is engaged 
in dressmaking at Colorado Springs : Ira 
Laml)ert, employed in the powder works at 
Mooar ; James, who is a fanner and resides 
near Mooar: Samuel, who is also emjiloyed 
in the powder works; Lucy Elise, wife of 
George C. Bold, and resides near Mooar : 
and Fred, who died at the age of five years. 
They have also adopted one son, Leo. 

Twelve years ago Mr. Sims suffered a 



stroke of paralysis, and since that time he 
has been unable to perform acti\'e labor and 
has been taking a well-earned rest from toil 
but his mind retains undimmed all its for- 
mer lustre, and he relates many entertaining 
incidents of his earlier life and struggles and 
of pioneer times in the West. Although the 
aboriginal inhabitants had departed before 
his settlement in this region, he has col- 
lected nuich information in regard to their 
habits and customs, and relates that Sugar 
creek, which flows through Jackson town- 
shi]). was so named fmm the fact that its 
banks were formerl}' a noted camping 
ground for Indians who resorted thither for 
the jnuijose of making maple sugar, and 
that a large boulder, which is still ])ointed 
out, formerly supplied the Indians with the 
material for the manufacture of arrow and 
spear heads. 

Mr. Sims has dcx'oted much time and 
thought to reading along the lines of public 
questions, and has always taken a part in 
affairs of government as a meml)cr of the 
Republican party, of which he is a valued 
counselor in this township. He has also 
manifested throughout his life a dee]) inter- 
est in the moral and ethical advancement of 
society, and both be an<l Mrs. Sims have 
long been earnest and faithful members of 
the Baptist denomination, which they have 
supjiorted liberally from their means, both 
in the regular work of the church and in 
its manv enteritrises of Christian charity and 
benevolence. Mr. Sims has a wide acquain- 
tance, and to write the chronicle of lu's life, 
his work and his success is a pleasure which 
will be shared as readers 1)y many friends. 
whose respect and esteem he has won in full 
and trenerous measure. 



112 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



HENRY SCHMIDT. 

It is always of interest to examine into 
tlie life history of a self-made man to know 
the methods he has followed and to take 
cognizance of the business plans and oppor- 
tunities which have enabled him, perhaps, 
to ])ass luany who started out in business 
life better equipped. .Mr. Schmidt is emi- 
nently deservinj;- of the praise that is con- 
veyetl in tiie term of a self-made man and 
his life is a splendid illustration of the force 
of character and the power of determination 
and unremitting energy. Born in Germany 
on the _>oth of May. 1831, he there acquired 
a common-school education and in youth 
learned the trade of a carpenter and joiner. 
He followed that pursuit in the Fatherland 
uiUil 1S5J, when at the age of twenty-one 
years he came to the United States, board- 
ing a westward bound vessel on the 5th of 
September and arriving in the harbor of 
New Orleans on the 24th of October, fol- 
lowing. Proceeding up the ri\er to St. 
Louis, Missouri, he reached that place on 
the /th of November. The joumey across 
the Atlantic had lieen made in a sailing ves- 
sel "Sarah," w hich w;is seven weeks en route. 
After spending a few months in St. Louis 
Mr. Schmidt came to Keokuk, Iowa, in 
1853 on t!ie stcamer"Kate Kearney,"" making 
the tri]) in .\pril. Here he worked in 
various wa\s that wnuld yield him an honest 
living and gain him a start. In 1856 he 
built a small shop in which to do carpenter 
work. He labored very industriously, but 
made little money. When the war broke out 
he- began work on the railroads, helping to 
buikl liridges at Ottumwa and Rock Island. 



He afterward was employed at shop work in 
Eddyville, but subsequently turned his at- 
tention to contracting antl building. When 
he arrived in Keokuk he was entirely without 
capital and had no friends in this locality, 
but he possessed laudable ambiton and firm 
purpose and these qualities have enaliled him 
to steadily work his way upward. He com- 
menced coiUracling and building in 1857 
and was thus engaged for two years in New 
Orleans. The year 1880 was the beginning 
of his present business, for with two hand 
machines he at that time began the manu- 
facture of screens. This proved a profitable 
\enture, his trade gradually increasing and 
in 1886 he installed a steam engine, which 
was in operation until 1894. In the mean- 
time he had extended the field of his labors 
not only making screens, but also sash, doors 
and \arious kinds of buildiTTg fixtures. In 
the year mentioned he erected a building 
50x102 feet and two stories in height. It 
is a solid brick structure and was equipped 
with machinery valued at froiu six to eight 
thousand dollars. The company now makes 
not only screens, doors and windows but all 
kinds of building work to order, including 
the best bank fixtures. Employment is fur- 
nished to twenty-five people and the payroll 
in 1903 for labor aloi^ was $15,000. The 
capital stock was increased in the same year 
bv $25,000 and the buildings and machinery 
are worth an equal aniouiU. The business 
was begun under the name of Henry 
Schmidt, but later he admitted his son to a 
partnership and in 1894 the Henry Schmidt 
& .Sons Company was incorporated. The 
enterjirise has become one of the leading 
productive industries of the city and a large 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



"3 



ami protitalile lousiness is now carried on. 
'Mr. Schmidt was also engaged in a contract- 
ing business from the close of the war until 
1894 an<l has erected nian_\- of the tine busi- 
ness blocks of Keokuk, evidences of his 
handiwork being seen in a large number of 
the fine structures of the city. 

Mr. Schmidt was married soon after his 
arrival in Keokuk to Miss Philipena Wieg- 
ner, who was born in Germany. The same 
year he built a home which he still occupies, 
but his wife died on the 21st of March, 1B94, 
leaving three children. The eldest, .\lfreil 
J., survived only until June i. TS93. He 
was manager of the business and he left a 
wife and five children, the eldest of whom, 
Alfred C. Schmidt, is now shipping clerk in 
the factory. Charles O. Schmidt, the pres- 
ent manager of the business, is married and 
has four children. Henry E. is connected 
with the Wilkinson Drug Company, being 
a graduated pharmacist of the College of 
St. Louis. He is also married and lias three 
children. 

Fraternally Mr. Schmidt is connected 
with the Odd Fellows Society, in which he 
has held all of the offices and has been a 
delegate to the Grand Lodge. He has never 
taken an active interest in politics because 
of the heavy demands made upon his time 
and attention liy his business afifairs. He 
belongs to the German Evangelical church 
and is one of its oldest and most valued 
members. He held office in the church until 
sixty years of age, serving as president, 
trustee and treasurer. He was largely in- 
slrumciUal in the erection of the originrd 
church in 1858 and in the newer house of 
worship of 1874. Upon coming to .\merica 



in early maniiood he was unfamiliar with 
the habits and customs of the people and 
with their language, but adapting himself 
to circumstances and making the most of 
his opportunities he gradually overcame all 
difficulties and obstacles in his path, these 
seeming to serve as an impetus for closer 
application and more earnest effort. He 
has led a busy and useful life, standing to- 
day as one of the leading representatives of 
industrial interests in his adopted city and 
at the same time he has been neglectful of 
no public duly that has devolved upon him. 
He has been paiticularlv acti\e in church 
work and he commands the unqualified con- 
fidence of all who know him. 



FRANCE C. ROBERTS, M. D. 

The field of medical practice has ever 
enlisted among its representative men of 
the strongest mental capacity and of broad 
liuinanitarian principles, who recognizing 
the great responsibility which devolves upon 
the practitioner puts forth his strongest and 
best effort, making his labors therefore a 
blessing to mankind as well as a source of 
individual profit. Dr. France C. Roberts, 
acknowledged as one of the most capable 
physicians and surgeons of Fort Madison, 
was born in Otsego, Allegan county, Michi- 
gan, on the loth of January, 1855, his par- 
ents being Abel and Emma (Cole) Roberts. 
His father was born in Rensselaer county, 
Xcw ^'ork. and the mother at Ovid, that 



114 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



state. The Roberts family is of Welsh line- 
age, the original American ancestors hav- 
ing come to* the United States in early colo- 
!iial (lays. Abel Roberts became a pioneer 
resident of Michigan, establishing his home 
near .\drian and later he was married at 
Ann Arlior to Miss Cole, who had accom- 
panied her parents. Mr. and ^Irs. Nelson 
Cole, to that state. Abel Roberts subse- 
quently removed to Otsego, Michigan, 
where he was engaged in the practice of 
medicine. He was a graduate of the first 
class that completed the course in the med- 
ical department of the University of Mich- 
igan. Prior to that time he had spent a few 
years in California subsequent to the dis- 
covery of gold on the Pacific slope. He came 
to Fort Madison, Iowa, in the spring of 
1859, and continued in practice here until 
his death, being one of the ablest representa- 
tives of the medical fraternity in the city at 
an early day. He was also prominent in 
politics and filled the p(isition of county 
treasurer of Lee county for three terms. He 
was likewise the owner of the Democrat and 
erected the Democrat P)uilding, a substan- 
tial brick block in which he began the pub- 
lication I if bis paper. His eff(.irts touched 
the general interests of society along many 
lines and proved of marked value in promot- 
ing public progress and suljstantial advance- 
ment. He died in Fort Madison in the year 
1901, while his wife passed away in 1898. 

France C. Roberts pursued his educa- 
tion in the private schools and in Fort Madi- 
son .\cademy. He was reared in an atmos- 
phere of medical learning and whether en- 
vironment, inherited tendencies or natural 
predilection had most to do with his choice 



of a profession it is difficult to determine, 
but at all events he resolved to make the 
practice his life work and entered upon a 
full course of preparation. He pursued his 
first two courses of lectures in the Uni- 
versity of Michigan at Ann Arbor and after- 
ward matriculated in the Louisville Medical 
College of Kentucky, from which institu- 
tion he was graduated in the class of 1876. 
He then began practice in Fort Madison, 
where he has followed his profession contin- 
uously for twenty-seven years, becoming one 
of the best known and prominent physicians 
of this portion of the state. He is a mem- 
ber of the Lee County ^Medical Society, of 
which he was the first president and he also 
belongs to the Des Moines Valley Medical 
Association, of which he has also been pres- 
ident. He is a member of the State Medi- 
cal Society and the American Medical Asso- 
ciation. He is likewise an honorary mem- 
ber of the Santa Fe Railway Surgeons' As- 
sociation and each year attends its meeting 
at Topeka, Kansas. He is also identified 
with other medical societies. He has been 
president of the Lee county commission of 
insanity for about twenty years. He is like- 
wise local surgeon for the St. Louis, Keokuk 
& Northwestern Railway Company, the 
Chicago. Burlington & Kansas Railroad and 
the Chicago, r)urlington & Ouincy Railroad, 
occu])ying these positions since 1878. He 
was assistant surgeon of the Second Regi- 
ment of Iowa National Guards, afterward 
the Fiftieth Iowa Regiment. His practice 
has long been large and of a lucrative char- 
acter and in his career has been manifest 
celerity of mental actions combined with a 
correctness of conclusions that have made 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



li: 



him accurate in tlie diagiiosis of a case and 
rendered his lahors of much vahie in cliecls- 
insf tlie ravages of disease. 

Ahhough the practice of methcine and 
surgery has been liis real life work. Dr. 
Rol)erts has also done a large amount of 
newspaper writing and has long taken a 
deep interest in political questions, his sup- 
port ever being given to the Democracy, 
and he has labored for local successes both 
as a private citizen and as chairman of the 
county central conuuittee and of the con- 
gressional committee. He has, however, 
never aspired to office, desiring only to see 
the adoption of the principles in which he 
l-)e1ieves without wishing for office as a re- 
ward for party fealty. He is a member of 
Claypoole Lodge, Xo. 13, Free and .\ccepted 
Masons: Po'towonok Chapter, Xo. 2<S. Royal 
Arch Masons, and Delta Commander}-, No. 
51. Kniglits Templar. His prominence in 
Masonry and the regard which the brethren 
of his fraternity entertain for him is indi- 
cated liy the fact that he has served as Mas- 
ter of the Lodge, High Priest of the Chapter 
and Eminent Commander of the Comman- 
dry. He has likewise been a tnistee of the 
different Masonic bodies. He is a charter 
member of the Benevolent and Protective 
Order of Elks. 

In January, 1882, was celebrated the 
marriage of Dr. Roberts and Miss Ella Lay- 
ton, who died in 1884, leaving one son. Ed- 
ward Layton. who is now studying mining 
engineering in the University of California 
at IJerkeley, that state. In 1889 Dr. Roberts 
wedded Mrs. Anna Burch, a daughter of 
A. J. Cowell. of Moulton, Iowa. They have 
'iiie child, Katharine, and thev occupv a tine 



residence at No. 161 1 Fourth street. In 
1887 Dr. Roberts spent the summer in Ber- 
lin. Germany, as assistant to Professor 
Koester in the surgical department of Queen 
Augusta Hospital and also traveled over the 
continent for a year. He has likewise 1)een 
an extensive traveler in his own countrj' and 
is a gentleman of scholarly attainments and 
broad ailture, whose naturally strolig mind 
enriched by reading and study and also by 
many reminiscences of his journeys in his 
home land and abroad, renders him an en- 
tertaining and agreeable companion. 



LEONARD MATLESS. 

One of the most successful, influential 
and highly esteemed citi/^ens of the city of 
Keokuk diuMug the last half ccntiuy was 
Leonard Matless, whose ability, enterprise 
and strong, kindlv character made him re- 
])ected wherever he was known, and he en- 
joyed a wide acquaintance among the liest 
peojile throughout Lee county and in many 
of the more imjiortaiu cities of the West. 
Me was born in Xorfolk, England, Xovem- 
ber 11, 1823, and there was united in mar- 
riage to Miss Matilda dobel in 1846, and 
there he also inaugurated bis independent 
career l)y acquiring the then highly lucra- 
ti\e trade of shoem;iking. in which he be- 
came unusually proficient. To Mr. and Mrs. 
Matle--s four children were born in I'^ng- 
land : one dic<l young and with their small 
fainilv of three children thev set out for the 



ii6 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



Xew World in 1853, seven years subsequent 
to their marriage, being convinced that in 
America lay broader fields for business en- 
terprise, more abundant opportunities of 
advancement and above all superior educa- 
tional facilities for the benefit of their chil- 
dren. They made the voyage in the sail- 
ship "Golconda ;" were overtaken by a storm 
that lasted for a number of days and re- 
sulted in the voyagers suffering shipwreck; 
were compelled to spend two weeks in re- 
fitting the vessel, and finally, as the crown- 
ing exasperation of their experience, were 
becalmed and lay motionless in midocean for 
two weeks, thus prolonging the trip to a 
total duration of ten weeks, at the end of 
which time, however, they arrived safe at 
New Orleans and proceeded up the Missis- 
sippi ri\er by steamer to Keokuk. Here Mr. 
Matless began his business career by pur- 
chasing an interest in a shoe manufacturing 
business owned by a Mr. Odell, with whom 
he continued in partnership until the retire- 
ment of the latter from business, when he 
formed a partnership with Mr. Huiskamp, 
wlio came to Keokuk from St. Louis for the 
purpose, and conducted a wholesale and re- 
tail shoe business for a number of years. 
For twenty years, from 1853 to 1873, he 
was actively engaged- in the shoe business 
in Keokuk, and then went west to Ft. Madi- 
son, where he acted as superintendent of 
the large factory which the firm bad estab- 
lished in that city, continuing ver\- success- 
fully in the position for another period of 
almost twenty years, or until 1893, when 
his health failed, and he returned to Keo- 
kuk and here li\ed in retirement from ac- 
tive affairs for the remaining vears of his 



life, which were devoted to the enjoyment 
of domestic and social intercourse and the 
well deserved fruits of labor and care. 

To Mr. and Mrs. Matless were born ten 
chililren. all deceased but two sons and two 
daughters, as follows : Alfred E., Leonard. 
Jr., Kate, and Mrs. Henry A. Knights, all 
residents of Keokuk. The two sons have 
won very prominent positions in the 
Ijusiness world of Keokuk, and are widely 
known men of ability and business fore- 
sight, worthy representatives of the in- 
fiuence formerly wielded by the distin- 
guished father. Mr. Matless was well 
known in Masonic circles in this section, 
and the date of his being made a Master 
Mason was in 1875, he being a member of 
Hardin Lodge of this city, which afterward 
conferred upon him its supreme honor, that 
of Worshipful Master, in 1880. He was 
witness to many changes and improve- 
ments in the industry to which he devoted 
his life, and it was during the time of his 
association with the firm of Huiskamp 
Brothers that the transition was accomp- 
lished from handwork, which had previously 
prevailed universally, to modern machine 
manufacture in its most highly perfected 
and marvelous forms. He was capable of 
great and sustained effort of body and 
mind, owing much of his success to this 
cpiality, and while he passed the greater part 
of his life in the successful operation and 
management of large enterprises, his char- 
acter was one of particular fineness and self- 
suppression. Quiet, reserved, kindly, the 
personification of cheerfulness, always ready 
to sacrifice his own convenience and pleasure 
to the happiness of others, even when under 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



117 



the sliadow of feeble healtli he was even-- 
wliere respected for the strength of his per- 
sonality and loved by all his friends for the 
unobtrusive beauty of his character and the 
virtues which made him in the best sense 
of the word a gentleman and a true man. 
Gifted with the keen discrimination, un- 
erring foresight and decision of tempera- 
ment, which enabled him to work out gi- 
gantic projects to their terminations and to 
acquire for himself and family a very sub- 
stantial fortune, he was at the same time a 
kind, thoughtful husband, an indulgent and 
provident father, -a loyal friend, hospitable 
and generous, and a citizen of the most 
worthy and admirable type. He died Mon- 
day evening, August 25, 1902, and was 
laid at rest in Oakland cemeter}-, followed 
by the benedictions of a multitude who felt 
that his loss was, indeed, a serious one for 
the community thus bereft. Mrs. Matless 
still survives him, and continues to reside 
at the family home at Xo. 911 Franklin 
street, the center of a refined and cultured 
circle of friends. 



FREDERICK KREIKENBAUM. 

Frederick Kreikenbauni. of West Point, 
vice-president of the West Point Bank, and 
one of the most extensive landowners of Lee 
county, Iowa, was born in the Province of 
Hanover. Germany, Februars' 8, 1836, a son 
of Henry and Hannali Kreikenbaum and 
the fifth of a family comprising five daugh- 



ters and one son, of whom all are now de- 
ceased but two. When only twelve years of 
age he emigrated with his parents to Amer- 
ica, crossing the ocean in a sailing vessel, 
and alter a voyage of eight weeks landed at 
Xew Orleans, whence they ascended the 
Mississippi river to St. Louis, where for a 
year Henry Kreikenbaum worked in a 
foundry, then in 1849 brought his family to 
Lee county, Iowa, locating at the village of 
Franklin. .\t that ])lacc he established a 
blacksmith shop, which he continued to 
conduct for the remainder of his active life, 
meeting with great success, an<l w inning the 
esteem of all who knew him, and there oc- 
curred his death at the advanced age of 
ninety-three years. 

Our subject received few educational ad- 
vantages in his native land, and after com- 
ing to the United States he attended school 
for the space of only one month, this being 
a night school, and altogether his accomp- 
lishments in this line proceeded no further 
than the mastery of the alphabet tluring his 
earlv _\ears, but he learned while still quite 
young the invaluable lessons of industry and 
self-reliance, and in time easily overcame the 
handicap of limited schooling. The first 
work which he performed for a cash con- 
sideration was digging potatoes for a wage 
of twenty-five cents a day, and when he was 
twelve years of age he became assistant to 
his father in the blacksmith shop, doing the 
hard and heavy work which was required 
with a determination to succeed in spite of 
all unfavorable circumstances, thus learning 
the trade of blacksmith under parental direc- 
tiDU, ;uid he feels today that he -could have 
had no better instructor. lie li\-ed with his 



ii8 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



father until he was twenty-six years of age. 
at which time he was united in marriage to 
Miss EHzabeth Hefner, by whom he had 
three sons and two daughters, all of whom 
still live, as follows : Eliza, Edward. John 
Albert, .\nielia and Frederick. Jr. The 
mother of the family, however, is deceased, 
and ]\Ir. Kreikenbaum has been married, 
the second time wedding Miss Barbara Lutz. 
After the retirement of his father Mr. 
Kreikenbaum assumed entire charge of the 
business, which he conducted with great 
ability and skill until the time of his own 
retirement in i8(ji, after working at his 
trade for mure than forty-two years, and 
throughnut this long period he was unfail- 
ingly successful. Beginning his independ- 
ent career at the age of twelve years entirely 
without capital and with no education, not 
e\-en understanding the language of the 
country in which he lived, he has by care, 
economv and good management acliieved 
much, owning at the present time over 
T,ioo acres of excellent agricultural lands 
in Lee, Washington and Buchanan coun- 
ties, Iowa, as well as a half interest in the 
West Point Bank, and having residence 
property in the village of West Point, upon 
which he erected in 1893 a magnificent m<~id- 
ern dwelling, surroiuided l)y lieautiful and 
well-kejjt grounds. Here he has set out 
vines and fruit trees, and the large lawji is 
decorated w itli llowers and shrubben- artist- 
ically grnuped ;ind massed, so that the lionie 
of Mr. and .Mrs. Kriekenbaum is one of 
both comfort and beauty. Upon closing 
his blacksmith shop in I-'ranklin. Mr. Kriek- 
enbaum remoxed to the city of b'ort Madi- 
-son. but after two rears' residence at that 



place he came to West Point. His present 
condition contrasts very favorably with that 
of his first few years in Lee county, for 
when his father came to Iowa and located at 
P'rrmklin the fanu'ly occupied a small house 
which was covered with clapboards for pro- 
tection from the elements, and had for a 
floor only hewed logs. Later, however, the 
father of our subject signalized his success 
in material matters li}' erecting a com- 
modious and comfortable house, in which 
he passed his declining }ears. 

The name of Frederick Kreikenbaum 
has been well known in ex'ery community 
in which he has resided, as his interest in 
public affairs and his de\otion to the gen- 
eral welfare ha\e always made him a 
])rominent figure. I'or many years he has 
been activelv engaged in the work of the 
Democratic partv. and has held man}- jxisi- 
tions of honor and tru.st, being at the pres- 
ent time one of the trustees of \\'est Point 
township, and h-i\ing held the office of 
mayor of I'ranklin ; also serving his con- 
stituents as a member of the common coun- 
cil of that village, in all of which positions 
he has demonstrated himself to l)e the pos- 
sessor of considerable practical ability, and 
has performed the duties that came to him 
to the eminent satisfaction of his fellow citi- 
zens and with much honor to himself. And 
in -promoting the moral and sjiiritual inter- 
ests of those who came within the circle ot 
his intluence he has been ecjually zealous. 
Himself and wife are members of the Evan- 
gelical faith, but as there is no church of 
that denomination in their community they 
attend the Presbyterian church, to which he 
is a \erv generous contributor. Thus he 



LEE COUNTY. IOWA. 



119 



has sliown himself to be a man of broad ami 
liberal views, as indeed, a man must be wlin 
has succeeded in face of the obstacles which 
confronted him at tlie outset of his career: 
and successful he has certainly lieen in all 
his enterprises, his connection with the bank 
at this place jiroving especially -helpful to 
tiiat institution, wiiich holds very high rank 
in the financial world of southern Iowa. >Jo 
biographical record of Lee county would be 
conijjlete without a full re\"iew of his career, 
and this account is offered with entire con- 
fidence that it will prove deeply interesting 
to his many acquaintances and friends, 
among wlmni he is admired fur his con- 
scientious work in life and respected for the 
the strength and unfailing, uprightness and 
integrity of his character. 



JOHN C. DANIELS. 



John C. Daniels, whose intense and well 
directed activity made him a forceful fac- 
tor in community interests in Keokuk, where 
for twenty-six years he figured prominenll\ 
in commercial circles, was an opportunist — 
readily recognizing his chance and utilizing 
conditions for practical, resultant ends. 
With no special technical training for the 
business world he made for himself a posi- 
tion prominent in the trade circles of south- 
eastern Iowa, winning at the same time an 
honored name because he followed no other 
road to success save the path of rectitude. 

A native of Chenango county, \ew 



York, Mr. Daniels was born March 23, 
1840, a son of Martin and Alice (Allen) 
Daniels, also natives of Chenango county. 
The father followed merchandising in New 
^'l>rk while later he established his home 
in Richmond, Virginia, where he was en- 
gaged in the lumber business, and afterward 
removed to Canada. He next removed to 
F.au Claire, Wisconsin, in 1857 and figured 
prominently in the business circles of that 
place for many years. He was also a recog- 
nized leader in political circles there and for 
many years he held the office of county clerk 
and other local ]iositions. wherein he fur- 
thered the interests of the community, fos- 
tering many measures for the general good. 
He was a man of much tact as shown in 
I)oth his business and political relations, pos- 
sessed a most cheerful <lis])osition and be- 
nevolent spirit and was thus enabled to shed 
around him much of the sunshine of life. 
The kindly disposition of his wife made her 
his able assistant in many good works. They 
had two sons. John C. and Conway I>. Mar- 
tin Daniels died at the age of fifty-eight 
years and his wife jiasscd away about six 
years later. 

John C. Daniels ac(inired a common- 
school education and while living in Can- 
ada learned to speak the I'Vench l.mgnage. 
He displayed much energy and business 
ability while yet a young man and at the 
age of seventeen years was operating a saw- 
mill at F.au Claire, Wisconsin, in which he 
employed twenty men. At the outbreak of 
the Civil \\'ar it was his desire to enter the 
army, hut his mother opposed this and he 
went instead to the northwest, where he re- 
mained from 1861 until 1866. It was a wild 



120 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



and unimproved district in which he located 
and in that locaht)- he engaged in mining, 
merchandising and in Uimbering, cutting 
and sawing lumber or doing anything that 
his hand found to do. It was this ready 
adaptability to any task that lay nearest him 
and seemed to promise the best results that 
made him an opportunist. 

Returning to Wisconsin, Mr. Daniels 
■went into the wholesale lumber commission 
business, selling rafts of lumber along the 
river. After living at Hannibal. Missouri, 
for three years, he settled at Keokuk, Iowa, 
in 1872 and continued in the wholesale lum- 
ber business at this point for twenty-six 
years, handling a large amount of lumber 
annually and conducting an extensive and 
profitable business. He also owned the steam- 
boats "Lumberman," "Lumber Boy" and 
"Kit Carson" and was familiarly known as 
Captain Daniels. His steamers towed rafts 
from Reed's Landing and down the Missis- 
sippi river as far as Louisiana, Missouri. 
His raft boats were the first of their kind 
to use search lights on the Mississippi. In 
1803 -^I''. Daniels entered into partnership 
with William Garten, inventor of the Gar- 
ten lightning arrester, a device for use on 
street cars, and they founded the Garten- 
Daniels Lightning Arrester Company, of 
which Mr. Daniels became the president. In 
1902 the present Garten-Daniels Company, 
manufacturers of electric specialties, was 
organized, and Mr. Daniels was elected pres- 
ident, in which capacity he served up to 
the time of his death. 

In 1869 John C. Daniels married Mrs. 
Cordelia May Hamer, daughter of Levi 
Munson and Sophia (Galbraith) Munson, 



whose early life was passed in Lawrence 
county, Indiana. Ida May, an adopted 
daughter is now the wife of E. L. Cham- 
berlain, of Jonesville, Louisiana. 

Mr. Daniels was a Republican in politics 
and a member of the Masonic fraternity, 
having attained the Knights Templar degree, 
and was also a member of the Mystic 
Shrine. He held membership in the First 
Congregational church of Keokuk, of which 
he was a trustee for many years, and while 
his attention was chiefly given to his busi- 
ness affairs, he yet took cognizance of the 
conditions of life which wrought for good 
to the individual and to the community, and 
was the champion of many helpful and pro- 
gressive measures. He held friendship in- 
violable and was kindly and sympathetic, but 
the \ery best elements of his character were 
reserved for his family and for the relation 
of an ideal home life. He passed away at 
Eau Claire, Wisconsin, October 25, 1903. 
Mrs. Daniels, also a member of the Con- 
gregational church, ocaipies a beautiful 
home overlooking the river, and in Keokuk, 
where she has now lived for nearly a third 
of a century, she has a very large circle of 
friends. 



JACOB HANDRICH. 



One of the older residents of Franklin 
township, Lee county, Iowa, and at the same 
time one of the most enterprising and suc- 
cessful farmers of this part of the county, is 
Jacob Handrich. who now resides on his 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



121 



farm of i66 acres on section 8. Mr. Hand- 
rich was born February i8, 1838, in Ger- 
many, tlie son of Jacob and Katherine (Neff) 
Handrich, and with his parents came to 
America in 1844, taking passage in a sailing 
vessel and landing after a stormy voyage of 
sixty-five days' duration at New Orleans, 
whence the family traveled by way of the 
Mississippi river to St. Louis. From that 
city they crossed over to Madison county, 
Illinois, where the father, who was a farmer 
by occupation, purchased a farm of 100 
acres, and this he cultivated with success 
until his untimely death, which occurred 
only six years later. In 1S52 the mother 
brought her children to Lee county, locating 
in Franklin township, where the remainder 
of her life was passed and where her own 
death occurred. She was a member of the 
Mennonite church, while her husband was 
of the Presbyterian faith, and both were 
people of the most admirable character, 
highly esteemed by all who knew them, and 
many friends who prized them for their rare 
qualities. 

Mr. Handrich, our subject, enjoyed in 
his youth only the most limited educational 
advantages, and when but twelve years of 
age began working out as a farm hand, and 
thus at a very early age commenced to ac- 
f|uire that hard and practical ex]")erience 
which proved so useful to him in later life 
and which has constituted in no small degree 
the basis of his success. During the years 
1859 and i860 he was employed in Davis 
county, Iowa, but in the latter year he re- 
turned to this count}' and married Miss Mary 
DiefFenbach, who was a native of the same 
German province as himself. She is a 



member of an enterprising family and the 
daughter of Jacob and Mary Katherine 
(Xauert) Diefifenbach, who emigrated from 
Germany with their children in 1851, and 
in their progress to the New World they en- 
countered many discouraging circumstances. 
After embarking the}' discovered that the 
ship upon which they had taken passage 
was old and unseaworthy, being then on 
its last voyage and requiring the constant 
use of pumps to keep it from sinking, oc- 
cupying the long period of seventy-eight 
da\s, and after landing at New Orleans the 
passage up the Mississippi river occupied 
three weeks, during which their boat was 
frequently frozen fast in the ice. Arriving 
at St. Louis, eight more days were consumed 
in coming up the river to Keokuk, whence 
they drove to Franklin township, where they 
made their home for three years and then 
removed to Davis county, both parents com- 
pleting in that county the span of their lives 
and passing to the life beyond. To them 
were born nine sons and daughters, of whom 
Mrs. Handrich is the fourth, and the others 
now living are as follows : Jolm, a resi- 
dent of Davis county, Iowa; Martin, who 
resides in the same county ; Jacob, of Cali- 
fornia ; Phoebe, wife of Mr. Layman, of 
California; and Anna, wife of Mr. Look, 
also of California. 

Prior to his marriage Mr. Handrich had 
purchased a farm of 100 acres in Franklin 
township, on which he built substantial barns 
and a fine dwelling house, improving the 
property in many ways, and later traded it 
for his present farm of 122 acres, to which 
he has since added forty-four acres. Here 
he has erected a magnificent residence and 



122 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



many necessary buildings, besides installing 
all the most modern improvements, and 
maintains throughout the entire establish- 
ment an atmosphere of scrupulous neatness 
that bespeaks careful supervision and i)rac- 
tical efficiency. To ^Ir. and Mrs. Handrich 
have been born eleven children, of whom ten 
survive, as follows : Jacob, of Davis county ; 
Anna, wife of Henry Rings, of Franklin 
township; Mary, wife of John Frueh, of this 
township; Katie, wife of Phillip Dieffen- 
bach, of Davis dainty; Henry, of Franklin 
township; Emma, wife uf August Gram, of 
West Point township; Laura, wife of John 
Specht, of this township; L_\-dia, wife of Ed- 
ward Loewenberg, of Donnellson, Iowa; and 
Elizabedi and John, who reside with their 
parents. 

Mr. and Mrs. Handrich are lifelong 
members of the Mennonite church, in whoso 
work they have always taken an active and 
hel])ful part, and doing much to advance 
the cause of religion among those who have 
come under tlieir ]:)ersonal influence, both liy 
precept and by the high and noble example 
of their lives. Mr. Handrich has also borne 
a share in the shaping of public affairs as 
a sui)p(irter of the Democratic part}-, but 
he has never sought public office, preferring 
to devote his attention and abilities princi- 
pally to the work of his farm, and in this 
he has been extremely successful by reason 
of his constant care, sound judgment and 
Inisiness f(jresight, achieving a very gratify- 
ing degree of jjrosperity. Tn all his relations 
with his fellowmen he has observed the 
strictest integrity, and the history of his 
life is a chronicle of honor, honesty and fair, 
impartial dealing that has earned him the 



admiration of all, while at the same time his 
whole-hearted and genial good nature have 
been the means of winning many friends. 



REUBEN C. STONER. 

Reuben C. Stoner, at the present time 
an engineer on the Santa Fe Railway and re- 
siding at No. 2621 Webster street. Fort 
Madison, was born in Henr}' county, Iowa, 
on Jaiuiarv 26, 1870. and removed to Lee 
county with his parents when five years of 
age. The family coming to Lee county, 
located about four miles north of 
West Point in Pleasant Ridge township. 
There our subject received his early educa- 
tion in the public schools of his township, 
and was his father's assistant in the work 
of the farm until attaining his seventeenth 
year, when he hired out as a farm hand for 
three years, thus Ijeginning his independent 
career at a very early age. He then came 
to Fort Madison, where he went to work for 
the Santa Fe Railway Company as call boy, 
anrl at the end of one year became a fireman. 
After ten years of conscientious service in 
this capacity he was promoted, in 1901, to 
the position of engineer, which he still re- 
tains. In the three years of his connection 
with the freight service as an engineer he 
has never been concerned in a wreck, nor 
indeed, in any serious accident, and is rap- 
idlv coming to be recognized as a valuable 
factor in the system. 

Mr. Stoner is a son of John and Ma- 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



I -'3 



linda (Lyle) Stoner. The father is a native 
of Ohio, but early came west, locating in 
Henry county, Iowa, and is now a resident 
of Lowell, that county. He was a farmer 
thmughdut his active life, but is nnw re- 
tired. ]\Ialinda Stoner, the mother, died 
when her .son Reuben C. was thirteen years 
of age. 

At Fort Madison on April 22, 1891, 2\Ir. 
Stoner was married to Miss Nettie Davis, 
who was born near Burlington, Des Moines 
county. Mrs. Stoner is a daughter of John 
C. Davis, who was a farmer imtil 1890, at 
which time he removed to Fort Madison, 
where he now resides and is in the eniplo}- 
of the Santa Fe Railroad Company. Mr. 
and Mrs. Stoner are the parents of one child, 
Clarence William. 

Mr. Stoner is tlie third of a family of 
six brothers and sisters, as follows : Clara 
E., now deceased, was the wife of Charles 
Miner, teamster, of Fort Madison ; Emma 
L. is the wife of Charles G. Tull, farmer, of 
Bertrand. Nebraska; Reuben C, the subject 
of this review ; William, who was in the 
men's furnishing business in Chicago, died 
at the age of twenty-seven years ; Samuel 
resides in St. Louis, Missouri ; Ida E., is the 
wife of Alfred Canaday, farmer, of Lowell, 
Iowa. Mrs. Stoner is the elder of a family 
of two sisters. Susan B., her sister, is the 
wife of John B. Sibert, formerly of Fort 
Madison but now of San Bernardino, Cali- 
fornia, where he is a carpenter for the Santa 
Fe Railroad Company of tliat place. 

Mr. Stoner is affiliated with the Brother- 
hood of Locomotive Firemen, and in his 
strictly fraternal relations has been a mem- 
ber of the Ancient Order of United Work- 

8 



men since 1891. He holds meinbership in 
the Methodist Episcopal church, in the work 
of which he takes a \'ery active part. He 
bestows a portion of his time upon the study 
of public questions, and from considerations 
of the general welfare has allied himself with 
the Democratic party. He has not, however, 
aspired to any public ofifce, being only care- 
ful to cast his vote in the interest of good 
governnieiit. In 1894 ]\lr. and Mrs. Stoner 
built a pleasant home at 2621 Webster street 
wliere thev now reside. 



HARRY FULTON. 

Harry Fulton, the oldest continuous resi- 
dent of Keokuk, ulio for many years had 
figured prominently in local political circles 
and in this connection also had a wide ac- 
([uaintance throughout the state, was born 
in Watertown, Jefferson county. New York, 
March 29. \S2~,. his parents, Nathan and 
Philena (Hastings) Fulton, the former born 
in Vermont and the later in Massachusetts. 
They were married in New York and be- 
came the parents of eight children — Harry. 
Lucretia, who became the wife of of M. T. 
Langdon and ilied nf cholera in 1849; 
.Xmanda, married William Hunt and died at 
his home in Jefferson county, NevN' York, in 
1902; Caroline, married Orrin Webb and 
died in California; Philena, died in child- 
hood; Albert, living in Vilisca; Cynthia, 
the wife of William Sprague, of Lakeview, 
Wisconsin, and Ehvin. who died in Kansas 



124 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



in 1903. Tlie mother died in 1857, while 
visiting in New York and was buried at 
Watertown. 

Harry Fuhc:)n pursued his early educa- 
tion in the schools of his native city and 
afterward continued his studies in Keokuk. 
He came west in 1842 with his father, 
mother and their seven children. They left 
the Empire state on the 24th of August, 
tra\'eling after the primitive manner df the 
times, and arrived at their destination on the 
19th of October. Leaving Watertown they 
passed through Rochester. Buffalo, Cleve- 
land, Dayton, Columbus, Indianapolis, 
Springfield, Illinois, and thence to Nauvoo, 
from which point they crossed the river to 
Keokuk. The father purchased a farm three 
miles west of the present city of Keokuk, 
and in 1844 died of small-pox, from which 
disease the entire family suiYered. The loss 
of the father threw the responsibility of 
caring for the family upon Harry, who was 
the eldest son. He remained ujjon the 
home farm until 1847, when he sold the 
property and removed to Keokuk, where he 
has since resided. Here he began clerking 
in the wholesale dry goods house of Cox 
& Shelley, with whom he remained for three 
years, when he turned his attention to mer- 
chandizing on his own account, conducting 
both a wholesale and retail clothing busi- 
ness until i860. The following year he was 
appointed deputy United States marshal for 
the southern district of Iowa by H. M. 
Hoxie, the first United States marshal in 
this State, his appointment having been re- 
ceived from Abraham Lincoln. Mr. Fulton 
continued to serve in that capacity for fif- 
teen or sixteen years and was deputy pro- 



vost marshal for Lee county during the 
period of the Civil War. He had also been 
deputy sheriff in 1847 under Teter Miller. 
In 1848 he was a candidate for the state 
legislature on the \\'hig ticket, but was de- 
feated on accovmt of the overwhelming 
Democratic majority that the district gives. 
He served for two years as coroner, and at 
one time was candidate for sheriff, but was 
defeated. Other official positions, however, 
he has lilled. He was appointed by Judge 
Love as jury commissioner and acted in 
that capacity for a long period. He served 
under different United States marshals, for 
two years under H. M. Hoxie, for two 
years under Peter Melinda, four years under 
G. W. Clark, one year under Ed. Campbell, 
a Democrat, four years under David Miller, 
two years under E. P. Bradley, also a Demo- 
crat, two years under Col. R. Root, 
and four years under George M. Christian. 
In this capacity he has been called forth 
into active, arduous and ofttimes dan- 
gerous service. During the Santa Fe Rail- 
road strike in Madison in 1894, he was on 
duty and again during the Wabash Railroad 
strike at the time of President Cleveland's 
first administration. In this connection he 
did consitlerable official business in the mat- 
ter of making arrests. He has ever been 
prompt and fearless in the discharge of his 
duty and has the entire confidence and good 
will of the law-abiding community. In local 
affairs he has also been promin^Mit and for 
five years he served on the city council from 
the second ward. His first election came to 
him in a singular manner. He was at that 
time in Cincinnati buying goods for his mer- 
cantile establishment and when he returned 



LEE COUNTY. IOWA. 



12- 



hi line he foiiiHl lie had lieen elected to the 
office. The ticket on which he was nomi- 
nated was placed in tlie field only on the 
niurning of the election, and was called the 
Know-Nothing ticket. On this occasion D. 
W. Killnun was elected mayor of the city. 
Xone of the candidates on the ticket knew 
that their names had heen placed there when 
the ticket was put in the field, hut a number 
<if tile leading husiness men of the city de- 
siring a clean, practical and progressive ad- 
ministration i)lanned the movement, which 
was successfully carried out. This was the 
' only election which Mr. Fulton has missed 
in fifty-se\en years. For thirty years he has 
continuouslv heen a delegate to state con- 
ventions, attending even af a time when he 
had to go by stage to Des Moines. He at- 
tended the national conventions at which 
I.iiu-iiln. (irant, Garfeld. Blaine. Harrison. 
ATcKinley and Roosevelt were nominated ; 
also the Democratic convention at Kansas 
City, which made Bryan its standard bearer 
and at the last Republican national conven- 
tion at Chicago he was assistant sergeant-at- 
arms, his badge and appointment being now 
among his treasurer possessions. 

Mr. Fulton was appointed by the court 
receiver of the ])]ank road from Keokuk to 
Xew I-joston and managed this for several 
years, or until it was sold, the purchasers 
being H. W. Sample. James M. Shelley and 
Harry Fulton. These gentlemen conducted 
the road for a time. 1)Ut afterward sold it to 
Lee county. In 1S62-3 Mr. Fulton pur- 
chased horses to the value of $42,000 for the 
government, and he also bought and sold 
some fine matched teams for private parties 
and some to the St. Louis fire department. 



During a period of ten or twelve years he 
was appointed assignee in nearly all bank- 
ruptcy cases that occurred in Keokuk. 

Tn his own business career Mr. Fulton 
met with some reverses, but his character- 
istic purpo.se, unfaltering diligence and un- 
questioned integrity enabled him to over- 
come all difficulties and again work his wav 
upward. After coming to this county he in- 
vested in real estate, but the financial panic 
of 1 837 came on and he became involved 
as did thousands of others, so that he was 
left without a home, he and his wife giving 
up the residence which he had built, together 
with all their other property. .\t a bank- 
ruptcy sale of land he ]nircliased 800 acres. 
Although he had not a tlollar of his own to 
pay for this, friends came to his assistance 
and the wisdom of his investment was 
shown in the fact that within six months he 
sold 160 acres of the land for $500 more 
than the entire cSoo acres cost. He has rarely 
been at fault in matters of business judg- 
ment, and he now own a farm of consider- 
able \rilue, comprising 1 10 acres within the 
city limits of Keokuk. He also has forty 
acres adjoining Hamilton, and he owns resi- 
dence property in Keokuk, at the corner of 
Si.xth and Franklin streets, and bis home at 
X^o. 227 High street. He is a charter mem- 
ber of Eagle Lodge, X^o. 12, Free and .\c- 
cepted Masons; has been prominent in the 
ranks of Masonry and has served as Senior 
W^arden of the Grand Lodge. 

On the 29th of August. 1846, Mr. Ful- 
ton was married in Keokuk to Miss N. E. 
Patterson, who was born in Guernsey 
county, Ohio, in 1828. Her parents were 
R. M. G. and Nancy (Phillips) Patterson. 



126 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



Tlie father, a native of Ohio, was a boat 
builder and farnier and came to Keokuk in 

1839 on a lioat which he had buiU, the trip 
being made down tlie Ohio river and up the 
Mississippi. Within an hour after they 
boarded the steamer it burned with all its 
contents and Mr. Patterson lost all of his 
possessions in this disaster, and one man was 
burned to death, while another was drowned. 
The faniilv proceeded to St. Louis, and on 
another boat to Warsaw, where Mr. Patter- 
son worked at carpentering for a year. In 

1840 he moved across the Mississippi river, 
living- in the midst of a heavy timbered dis- 
trict, in which Indians were still seen. R. 
^\. G. Patterson, the father, became a lead- 
ing and influential factor in the early devel- 
opment of Lee county and served in the ter- 
ritorial legislature before the admission of 
Iowa into the Union. He had a son who 
served as sergeant-at-arms in the house for 
two years, beginning in 1844. In 1849 Mr. 
Patterson removed with his family to Mont- 
gomery county, where he conducted a gro- 
cery store, and both he and his wife died in 
that county. They were the parents of four 
children, but only two are now living — 
John \\'., pre\'iously mentioned as sergeaht- 
at-arms in the territorial legislature, died in 
Vilisca, Iowa, in 1895. Susanna is the 
widow of James Dunn and lives in Mont- 
gomery county, Iowa. J. T. died in Feb- 
ruary, 1904, in a hospital in Kansas City, 
Missouri. 

Unto Mr. and Mrs. Fulton have been 
born seven children, but only one is now 
living: Ida C, the wife of Willis H. Davis, 
a dealer in surgical instruments at Keokuk. 
They have one son, Harry Fulton, born May 



30. 1887. The children of the Fulton iamily 
who passed away in childhood are : Charles 
S., Albert H., Maggie, Harry S., Willis D. 
and one died in infancy. Mrs. Fulton is a 
member of the Congregational church and 
lielongs to the Ladies' Aid Society, and Mr. 
l-'ulton contributes to the support of the 
church. They are probaljly the oldest mar- 
ried couple who ha\-e had continuous res- 
idence in Lee county. They have celebrated 
as the years have gone l)y liy their tin, 
wooden, silver and golden wedding anniver- 
saries. Theirs has been a hap])y married 
life, not without its sorrows and disap- 
pointments, for they come to every indi- 
\'idual ; but there has, nevertheless, been 
much of pleasure and prosperity in their 
careers, and their mutual love and confidence 
has increased as time has gone by. They 
ha\e a most intimate knowledge of the 
ex'ents which have become matters of liis- 
tory in Lee county, being among the earliest 
settlers of this portion of the state. They 
ha\e watched the county as it has merged 
from pioneer conditions to take its place 
among the leading counties of the common- 
wealth, with all its splendid improvements 
and its great business activities. Mr. b'ul- 
ton has been jjarticularly well known in busi- 
ness and political circles and has wielded a 
wide influence. In the evening of life he 
receives the respect and confidence of all 
with whom he has been as.sociated, for his 
upright life and honorable purpose have 
gained to him the good will and trust of 
those with whom he has been brought in 
contact. 

Mr. I'ulton passed to his eternal home 
October 30. 1904. 



LEE COUNTY. IOWA. 



i-V 



FRANK M. BALLINQER. 

l-"rank M. I>alliii!^t'r, a iiieinher of the 
Keokuls liar, was born in Sandusky, Lee 
count}-. Iowa. May 2. 18^)-, his p.arents 1)e- 
ing Frank M. and Florence (l'\atio) Bal- 
lineer. The family is of Ensflish lineage and 
was first planted on American soil in \'ir- 
ginia. whence representatives of the name 
remo\-ed to Kentucky, where the famih" is 
now yery numerous. Many who bear the 
name have become prominent in that state, 
including distinguished representatives of 
■the Kentucky 1i;ir. l-'rank Ballinger, grand- 
father of F. M. Ballinger, of this review, 
\\as a prominent lawyer of Harrodsburg, 
Kentucky, where he was judge of both the 
circuit and appellate courts and an intimate 
friend of Cassius M. Clay. Removing to 
Iowa in the early fifties he settled at w hit is 
now Ballinger's Station, Lee cotmty. and be- 
came an extensive landowner. He built a 
large stone house, which is still a prominent 
feature of the landscape and in excellent 
state of preservation. Its construction was 
superintended b)- Steve Green, one of Judge 
Ballinger's former slaves, who was after- 
ward a pmniinent cnntr.ictor and builder of 
Ottumwa. Iowa, where he is now li\ing, 
aged and feeble. 

Frank M. Ballinger. a son of Judge Bal- 
linger. came to Iowa and lionght land for 
his f;it1ier in the "half-l)rced tract" of the 
Sac and Fo.x reservation. He became an 
agriculturist with extensive landed holdings, 
well known in Lee county. He married 
Florence batio while in the go\ernment 
service in Washington. D. C. She was the 
daughter of a navrd officer, a native of 



Spain, who served in both Spani.sh and 
English navies. He afterward came to the 
L'nited States, settling at Washington. 1). 
C. and he married a Miss Birch, of Vir- 
ginia, a member of a prominent Southern 
family of that name. He served in the 
United States navy and died of yellow fever 
off the coast of Brazil, while in command of 
a go\'ernment vessel. Mr. Ballinger. father 
of our subject, died in Keokuk, in Novem- 
ber. i88g. and the following year his widow 
retimied to Washington, D. C, where she 
now resides. 

brank !\L Ballinger. their son. was edu- 
cated in the schools near Sandusky and Keo- 
kuk, and following the completion of his 
literary course he entered upon the study of 
law. pursuing his reading in Colorado and 
in Keokuk, He was admitted to practice 
May 13, 1896. by the supreme court of the 
state, at Des Moines, and was admitted to 
practice in the L'nited States circuit and dis- 
trict courts of the southern district of Iowa 
in 1896. and to the supreme court of the 
United States .\pril u. 1901. Following 
his admission to the bar he entered the of- 
fice of Hon. John K Craig, of Keokuk. At 
first he had a large mercantile practice, rep- 
resenting at different times nearly all the 
wholesale merchants of Keokuk. His later 
years have been devoted more largely to the 
practice of criminal and corporation law. 
and in this branch of jurisprudence his 
clientage is large. He is particularly well 
fitted for his si)ecialty, because he not only 
has a comprehensive knowledge of legal 
principles, liul is also forceful in argument, 
logical in his rea.soning, clear in his deduc- 
tions and presents his cause with the force 



128 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



and power of oratorical ability. The bar 
and the courts always listen attentively and 
his clear presentation of his cause, based 
upon the correct application of the law, has 
won him many notable forensic victories. 

Mr. Ballinger is a stanch Republican, 
and in 1899 was a candidate of his party for 
the state legislature. Init as the district is 
Democratic he was defeated. He is a val- 
ued member of several fraternal organiza- 
tions, including the Benevolent and Protect- 
ive Order of Elks, the Fraternal Order of 
Eagles, the Independent Order of Odd Fel- 
lows, the Modern Woodmen of America and 
tile Sons of Veterans. 

On the 13th of February, 1888, :Mr. Bal- 
linger was married to Miss Eliza S. Carpen- 
ter, of Sandusky, Iowa, daughter of Charles 
L. and Mary J. (Sawyer) CaqDenter, he 
being one of the early settlers of the county. 
Mr. and Mrs. Ballinger now have a daugh- 
ter, Hazel, and their acquaintance is wide 
and favorable in their native county. Hav- 
ing always made his home within the bor- 
ders of Lee county the life record of Mr. Bal- 
linger is well known to his friends,- who 
recognize in his salient characteristics those 
traits which make for good citizenship, for 
high professional ideals and for ethical rela- 
tions in private life. 



HENRY HARMON DEIMAN. 

Henry Harmon Deiman, deceased, long 
one of the prominent citizens of Lee county 
and for a number of years a successful pork 



packer in Fort Madison and later a farmer 
of Pleasant Ridge township, was born in 
Hamburg, Germany, in 181 3, and came 
to America as a young man, crossing the 
ocean in a sailing ship and taking six weeks 
for the voyage. Landing in New Orleans, 
he proceeded by way of the Mississippi river 
to St. Louis, where he remained some three 
or four vears, and there he was married to 
Miss Elizabeth Jansen, a native of Hanover, 
Germany. He engaged in farming, and was 
very successful, so much so that he was able 
to surround his family with the comforts 
and many luxuries of life, and to give them 
a fine home. The beautiful residence build- 
ing, however, was destroyed by fire, a loss 
which was very considerable and was keenly 
felt. Mr. Deiman then removed with his 
family to Quincy, Illinois, where they lived 
for a number of years, and about 1848 came 
to Fort Madison, taking up their residence 
in the western part of the city. In Fort 
Madison Mr. Deiman engaged in pork pack- 
ing, building up a very extensive business 
and giving employment to a large number of 
workmen, thus greatly assisting in the ma- 
terial progress of the city and contributing 
in an important measure to its prosperity 
at that time, as well as doing much, by en- 
couraging an industry which was then in 
its infancy, to secure the present welfare of 
a comnnmit)- which still honors his memory. 
In 1879, however, he relinquished his work 
here, exchanging his packing business for a 
farm of 320 acres in Pleasant Ridge town- 
shi]). There he passed the remaiiider of 
his life in supervising the work of his farm, 
which he made one of the finest in the town- 
ship, introducing modern improvements in 
both equipment and methods, and erecting 



LEE COUNTY. IOWA. 



129 



buildings according to the latest and most 
ai)i)rtived models. 

The death of Mr. Deiman ocairred at 
his home in Pleasant Ridge township Jan- 
uary I. 1894. He was a man of great abil- 
ity and strong but gentle character, and his 
passing was mourned by a large circle of 
acquaintances and friends, neighbors and 
former business associates who held him in 
affection for his genial but just disposition, 
respected his qualities of high honor and 
integrity and honored him for those traits 
of heart and mind \\hich set him apart as a 
notable man, one of those rare personalities 
which appear but once in a generation, up- 
lifting all those with whom they come in 
contact. Many hold him in grateful remem- 
brance, and the record of liis life is a pre- 
cious possession to those left to mourn his 
loss. Mrs. Deiman survived her husband 
only one month, her demise occurring Feb- 
ruary I, 1894. She was a woman of saintly 
character, universally beloved for her many 
virtues, and left a family which has done 
her credit through the testimony borne by 
their lives to her careful, conscientious and 
pious teachings and training. Both Mr. and 
Mrs. Deiman were members of St. Mary's 
Catholic church at West Point. 

They are survived by a son and a daugh- 
ter, these being Joseph, now a resident of 
South Dakota, anfl Elizabeth, who was born 
in Fort Madison November i, 1854. There 
she received a very superior education in a 
private school and academy, thus fitting her- 
self for the conspicuous position she has 
since occupied in refined and cultured social 
circles. At Fort Madison in JanuaPt\ 1874. 
she was united in marriage to Lawrence Fig- 



gen, who was born in the city of St. Louis, 
and who was a very successful young busi- 
ness man. and they took up their residence 
in Chicago, where Mr. Figgen was associ- 
ated with his father in the candle business. 
In 1884 they decided to remove to the coun- 
try, and returning to Lee county, they lo- 
cated in Pleasant Ridge township, residing 
nern- the Deiman home for one year, at the 
end of which time they accepted the invita- 
tion of Mr. and Mrs. Deiman to share their 
liiinio and care for the old people during the 
remainder of their years. The death of Mr. 
Figgen, however, preceded theirs, that sad 
occurrence taking place May 10, 1887, and 
his remains were laid at rest in Saint Mary's 
cemetery at Fort Madison. He was a mem- 
ber of Saint Mary's Catholic church at West 
Point, and ever faithful to the teachings of 
his religion and the highest attributes of his 
nature. He possessed great ability and the 
most admirable character, and was very 
])iipular, having the good will of all who 
knew him. Li his death his wife and chil- 
dren sustained a loss which is too great to 
be calculated and which no favor of for- 
tune or circumstance can ever repair. 

To Mr. and Mrs. Figgen were born three 
sons and three daughters, as follows : Law- 
rence, now residing at Leadville, Colorado, 
who married Miss Nellie Murdock and has 
line Son, Law rcncc James ; Lillian, \vhi> mar- 
ried l'"rank McKibben, of Winfield, Kansas, 
and has two sons, Lawrence and Harold ; 
Harry, who died in Chicago when only one 
year of age: Marie, who is the wife of 
(jeorge Kri'hhiel ami Ins one son. Law- 
rence ; Joseph, who operates Mrs. Figgen's 
farm : and Emma, who also remains at home. 



I30 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



Lawrence and Marie are members of Saint 
Mary's Catliolic church at Fort Madison, 
wliile ^Irs. Figgen and her youngest two 
chikh"en are memljers of the West Point con- 
gregation. Mrs. Figgen has disposed of 
part of the original farm, but retains the 
ownership of 120 acres, which she devotes 
to general farming, in which she has had- 
remarkable success. In addition to her abil- 
.ities of a more practical nature she is a pleas- 
ant and accomplished lady of channing con- 
versational powers, is widely celebrated for 
her hospitality and her social qualities, and 
is gifted with exceptionally brilliant intel- 
lectual endowments. 



JOHN DOWNS, M. D. 

Dr. John Downs, \\hose thorough prep- 
aration and resourceful effort in the prac- 
tice. of medicine have gained him prominence 
as one of the ablest representatives of the 
profession in Fort Madison, was born on 
the farm near what is now Reeseville, in 
Highland county, Ohio, April 15, 1854. his 
parents being James and Mary CMcKer- 
nertny) Downs. lie was onlv a year old 
when his parents remo\-ed In Fayette county, 
Ohio, and in October, 1863, they became 
residents of Ralls county, ^Missouri, settling 
near Saverton,' where the father purchased 
land. Ills death there occurred in 1865, 
and in 1868 the mother married again. Dr. 
Downs was the eldest in the family of six- 
children, of whom only two reached ma- 



ture years, one sister dying at the age of 
twelve years, while a lirother, James, was 
injured in a railway accident and soon after- 
ward died. Following the mother's second 
marriage the property was sold in Ralls 
county, and the family removed to Marion 
county. Missouri, settling on a farm, there 
living until 1870, when they went to Shelby 
count}- anfl again established their home on 
a farm. Dr. Downs remaining with the fam- 
ily there until twenty years of age. 

Having acquired a fair common-school 
education he started out in life on his own 
account. He began work as a farm hand in 
Kno.x county, being employed by the month, 
and in the succeeding winter he entered the 
high school in Edina. He completed the 
high-school course, and when twenty-one 
years of age began teaching. While thus 
engaged lie also took up the study of medi- 
cine under the direction of Dr. Cornelius 
O'Brien, with whom he made his home for 
three years while following the teacher's 
profession. In the fall of 1876 he entered 
Rush ^ledical College, of Chicago, and in 
1877 became a student in the medical school 
in Kenkuk. the College of Physicians and 
Surgeons, now the Keokuk iMedical and Col- 
lege of Physicians and Surgeons On liis 
graduation in the spring of 1878 he received 
the degree of Doctor of Medicine, and im- 
mediately afterward entered upon the prac- 
tice of his profession in Edina, Missouri, 
where he remained until June, 1882. He 
met with a fair measure of success, antl he 
soon saved enough to pay for his medical 
education. In the \ear mentioned he re- 
moved to Fort Madison, and almost immedi- 
ately entered upon a large and lucrati\e prac- 




JOHN DOWNS, M. I). 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



^2>i 



tice that, indeed, made greater demands upon 
liis time than he could meet. He lias since 
resided continuously in I'ort Madison, and 
although in recent years he has retired some- 
what from active professional duties, his 
services are yet in demand by many who 
are loth to call in another family physician. 
Throughout his professional career he has 
made it his purpose to kee]) well informed 
concerning the advancement that is being 
continually made by the medical fraternity, 
and while quick to adopt any new method 
which he believes will prove of genuine 
value in his practice, he is, nevertheless, slow 
to discard the old and time-tried methods 
whose value has been proven through many 
years. 

His first venture in real estate was in 
taking a twenty-year lease of a lot at No. 
220 Pine street, on which be built an ofifice. 
In 1887 he made his first purchase of 
acreage jirnperty in the west part of Fort 
Madison and improved it. In the same year 
he was named a member of the Soliciting 
Committee to raise money to bring the 
Santa Fe Railroad to this city. In that move- 
ment the committee was successful, raising 
$30,000. Dr. Downs was one of the guar- 
antors of the right-of-way through the town. 
He aided in getting a charter for the bridge 
across the river, and the building of the rail- 
road and the bridge proved a splen- 
did impetus to the growth of the city, 
bringing about what is in popular parlance 
termed a "boom." He began to invest in 
real estate, and was among the first to build 
in the western part of town. In 1892 he as- 
sisted in raising a $50,000 bonus for the 



building of a slaughter house and meat 
])acking establishment, although he lost con- 
siderable money in that deal, everything 
was done in good faith to advance the in- 
terests of Fort Madison. In 1895 he built 
the Marguette Building as a memorial to 
pioneers of the northwest. It was origin- 
ally intended as an educational and club cen- 
ter. Init is now used for office purposes. Dr. 
Downs maintaining his own office therein, 
and also the top floor being used as the home 
of the Knights of Columbus, the building 
thus, to a degree, reverting to its original 
purposes. He liuilt his first residence at the 
corner of Third and Cedar streets, and there 
made his home until 1897, when he sold 
and removed to his present residence at No. 
804 Third street. Dr. Downs has likewise 
been identified with the improvement of the 
city aside from his real estate operations. 
He was one of the incorporators of the Fort 
Madison Street Railw.ay, but afterward sold 
his stock. 

.\fter coming to Fort Madison Dr. 
Downs was married on the i6th of October, 
1883, in this city, to Miss Caroline 
Schwartz, a native of Fort Ma<lison, and a 
daughter of John G. and Catharine (Stroth- 
man ) Schwartz. Six children have been 
born unto them: John C. who has had 
a business education and is now with his 
father as a member of the firm of John 
Downs & Sons, manufacturers of concrete, 
Portland cement, stone and dealers in 
cement, sand, coal and building supplies, 
with factory and warehouse at I'"ort Madi- 
son; James L.. who is now a stenographer 
for the chief clerk of the Santa Fe Railroad 



134 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



Company, at Fort Madison; Marie Cath- 
arine, Anna Marie, who died in infancy ; 
Catharine Isabella, and Joseph Garrett. 

While yet a boy Dr. Downs became 
deeply interested in questions of politics, and 
has ahvaj's kept well informed on the issues 
of the day. He cast his first ballot but a 
week after he attained his majority, and in 
1876 he championed the cause of Cooper, but 
lost his vote on account of being in Chicago 
at the time of the election. In t88o he sup- 
ported Hancock, and has since been an ad- 
vocate of Democracy in national politics. 
He has never been an office seeker, but was 
appointed County Physician, and has served 
as health officer of Fort ^ladison. Free and 
untrammeled in the expression of his views 
and unfaltering in his advocacy of what he 
believes to be right in matters of citizenship 
as well as in other relations of life, he ac- 
cords to others the privilege which he re- 
serves for himself, of forming an unbiased 
opinion. In manner he is pleasant and genial, 
and has gained a large circle of friends by 
his unfailing courtesy and deference for the 
opinion of others. Subsequently he has been 
called upon to serve as a delegate to the 
variou-^ county, congressional and state con- 
ventions. He was reared in the Catholic 
faith, and was confirmed in the church at 
Edina, Missouri, by Rev. P. J. Ryan, coatl- 
jutor of .\rchbishop Kendrick, of St. Louis. 
Rev. Ryan is now archljishop of Phila- 
delphia. Dr. Downs is identified with St. 
Joseph's church, at Fort Madison, and was 
one of the building committee at the time 
of the erection of the house of worship, in 
1885. In that year he became a charter 
member of the Fort Aladison St. Joseph 



Benevolent Society, and also of the Knights 
of Columbus, of this city, having, however, 
become a member of the latter at Burling- 
ton, Iowa. This was called the Gallitzen 
Council, No 739. Knights of Columbus, and 
was organized in October, 1903. Dr. 
Do\\ ns's influence has often been exerted for 
the upbuilding and improvement of Fort 
Madison, and is widely known as the cham- 
pion of many measures that have been of 
great benefit to the state. He did all he 
could to influence the school board to erect 
a school house in each ward, instead of hav- 
ing a central building and the wisdom of this 
plan has been fully demonstrated. He was 
likewise in favor of a good sewerage system 
and advocated the planting of shade trees. 
Fort Madison has, indeed, benefited by his 
efforts and his progressive and loyal citizen- 
ship stands as an unquestioned fact in his 
career. 



HAZEN I. SAWYER. 



Hazen I. Sawyer, who is an attorney at 
law practicing as a member of the firm of 
Hughes & Sawyer, of Keokuk, was born in 
this city October 10, 1868. He is a son of 
I. A. Sawyer of the Irwin-Phillips Com- 
pany, of Keokuk, one of the prominent rep- 
resentatives of commercial circles in Lee 
county. He was at one time a lieutenant in 
the regular army and enlisted as a private in 
the Tliird Iowa Infantry at the commence- 
ment of the Civil War. He married Miss 
Mary Irwin, a daughter of Stephen Irwin. 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



135 



one of the founders of the Irwin-Phillips 
Company, and a sister of John N. and Wells 
M. Irwin, of that corporation. In the Saw- 
)'er family were four children: Stephen I., 
with the Irwin-Phillips Company, of Keo- 
kuk: Hazen I., Mrs. T. R. Board, of Keo- 
kuk, and Mrs. John A. .McElroy, of Chi- 
cago. 

Hazen I. Sawyer hegan his education in 
the public schools of Keokuk and afterward 
spent three years in Parsons College, at Fair- 
field, where he completed his literary course. 
Preparing for the bar as a student in the 
I'niversity of ]Michig-an at Ann Arbor, 
he was graduated there with the class of 
1892. During his school and college days 
he spent the period of vacation in the whole- 
sale house of the Irwin-Phillips Company. 
Following his graduation he entered upon 
the practice of law at Aurora, Missouri, and 
in the fall of 1893 returned to Keokuk, 
where he opened an office, practicing alone 
until 1900. Pie then became associated with 
James C. Davis, now general attorney for 
the Chicago & Northwestern Railroaa 
Company, at Des Moines, this connection 
being continued until 1902, when he entered 
intn his jiresent professional relation with 
Judge Felix T. Plughes. He is local at- 
torney for the Iowa State Insurance Com- 
pany, and the firm of Hughes & Sawyer 
represent locally the Chicago, Burlington & 
Quincy, the Wabash, Santa Fe and Chicago, 
Rock Island & Pacific Railway Companies. 
Mr. Sawyer is also attorney for the Keokuk 
Savings bank and in addition represents 
many private interests, haxing a distinc- 
tivel\- representative clientage. He is a 
student. prei)aring his cases with great care 



and thoroughness and presenting his cause 
in the strong, clear light of reason. He was 
city attorney for Keokuk from .April, 1896, 
until April. 1899, and was a second time 
elected to that position in April, 1902, serv- 
ing until April, 1904. F"rom August, 1898, 
until his second election to the office of city 
attorney he served as referee in bankruptcy, 
being appointed by Federal Judge John 
Woolson. Strong in argimient and clear in 
expression he bases his statements upon a 
thorough knowledge of the fact and correct 
application of the law to the points in liti- 
gation and has gradually advanced to a posi- 
tion prominent in the ranks of the local fra- 
ternity in his native city. 

Mr. Sawyer is also recognized as a leader 
in the ranks of the Republican party, taking 
a very active interest in county politics. He 
has served as a member of the Republican 
county central committee, as chairman of 
the city committee and as chairman of the 
county delegation, attending the state con- 
vention. Pie is a close and earnest student 
of the signs of the times and of the ques- 
tions which divide the country into two 
great parties and his championship of Re- 
])ublicanism is the result of honest convic- 
tions, based upon a thorough and compre- 
hensive understanding of the issues of the 
day. 

On the 8th of February. iy()9, Mr. Saw- 
ver was married to Miss Marcia Louise 
Jenkins, a daughter of Dr. and Mrs. George 
V. Jenkins, of Keokuk, and they occupy a 
ple.isant residence at No. 522, Orleans 
street. Fraternally Mr. Sawyer is con- 
nected with Keokuk Lodge. No. 13. Inde- 
jiendent Order <if Odd Fellows, and Morn- 



U6 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



ing Star Lodge, No. 5, Knights of Pythias. 
He has passed all of the chairs in the 
former organizations and he likewise be- 
longs to the Sons of Veterans. He also 
holds membership in the Keokuk Country 
Club, in which he ser\ed as a director for 
about four years. In connection with his 
profession he holds various membership re- 
lations, belonging to the KeokukBar Asso- 
ciation, the Iowa State Bar Association, in 
which is serving as a member of the Com- 
mittee on Grievances, the American Bar As- 
sociation and the Commercial Law League 
of America. While his is a well-rounded 
character, his record presenting a commend- 
able interest in social life, in politics and in 
many of the questions which have bearing 
upon the conditions of the locality and the 
natiiin, his efforts are chiefly directed toward 
the calling which he has chosen as a life work 
and in which through individual merit, close 
study and application, supplementing strong 
intellectuality, he has won noble and gratify- 



ROBERT R. BULLARD. 

Robert Rolla Bullard, for many years a 
])n)minent agriculturalist of Green Bay 
township and a representative of one of 
the older families of Lee county, occupies 
a pleasant home on the southwest quarter 
of section 16 of his township. Here he 
owns 280 acres of productive bottom lands, 
forty acres being in timber. He was born in 



Jefferson township. Lee county, Iowa, Oc- 
tober II, 1856, son of James and Sarah A. 
( Wallace) Bullard. James Bullard, father 
of our subject, was born at Jacksonville. 
Morgan county. Illinois, and the mother 
was born in Xorthumberland county, Penn- 
sylvania. When James Bullard was nine 
years of age he came to Des ]\Ioines county. 
Iowa, with his father, Theophilus Bullard, 
and a ytor later came to Lee county. They 
located in Jefferson township, entering a 
"homestead" of government land there. The 
date of James Bullard's birth was 1825. 

Robert l>ullar<rs maternal grandfather. 
Joseph W^allace, came west at an early day, 
and located in Jefferson township, where 
the parents formed their acquaintance. Be- 
fore his marriage James Bullard bought 160 
acres of land in Jefferson township, where 
the greater part of his life was passed, and 
there Robert Bullard was born and grew to 
manhood, receiving, meantime, a good edu- 
cation in the public schools. At the age of 
twenty years he began his independent ca- 
reer by farming part of his father's land, 
and on the twentieth day of the following 
February, 1877, he was married in Jefferson 
township to Miss Nellie J. Shav, daughter 
of Patrick and ]\lary ( Waters) Shay. 

Mrs. Bullard's parents were both born 
and reared in County Clare, Ireland, and 
after their marriage emigrated to Canada. 
Later they removed to Ohio, where the 
father was employed in a Inick yard near 
the City of Cleveland. Thence they came 
to Iowa. 

After his marriage Mr. Bullard contin- 
ued farming his father's land, and their in- 
terests were largelv in common until the 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



^2>7 



latter's deatli, which occurred in 1898. 
Sarah Bullard, the motiier, died in 1885. 

Unto Mr. and Mrs. Bullard have been 
born two sons, Robert Edward, who died 
at the age of about nine years, and one other 
who died in infancy. One child, M.nrie 
Bullard. they have adopted. She was liorn 
in St. Louis, May 26, 1900. 

Mr. Bullard conducts a general farming 
Inisiness on a small scale, renting most of 
his land. He is a student of public cjues- 
tions, and in his political faith is a consist- 
ent supporter of the Democratic party, be- 
lieving its principles to be in accord with 
the spirit of .\merican institutions. Per- 
sonally, however, he has always refused to 
accept public office. In a fraternal way he 
is a member of Wever Lodge, Xo. 552, In- 
dependent Order of Odd Fellows. He is 
well known in this section of Lee countv, 
has made friends by his geniality and hos- 
pitality, and is esteemed for the uprightness 
and justice that characterize all his dealings. 



ARTHUR ROGERS. 



.\rthur Rogers, who is one of the 
younger farmers of Green Bay township, is 
a native son of the lnwiiship, hax'ing been 
born September 9, 1861, on section 16. It 
is recalled, as a reminder of pioneer times 
and in contrast to the present highly devel- 
oped condition of the county, that his birth 
occurred in a log cabin. He is the son of 
Mihvard Rogers, a sketch of whose career 



and ancestry ajjpears elsewhere in this re- 
view. Mr. Rogers, our subject, received 
his early knowledge of books in the public 
schools of his district, but may be said to be 
largely self-educated, as his home mental 
trrnning, in connection with natural talent, 
has enaliled him to assume his i)resent place 
in the community. 

L'ntil his twenty-second year Mr. Rogers 
assisted in the work of the home farm, 
acquiring the familiarity with the details of 
practical agriculture, which has since stood 
him in good stead and has been a most val- 
uable factor in his success. On December 
j8. 1884. he was united in marriage to Miss 
Florida Marsh, who was born in Wayne 
county. Iowa, the daughter of Benjamin and 
Sarah (Baldwin) Marsh. Mr. and Mrs. 
Marsh were among the earlier settlers of the 
present State of Iowa, and both of eastern 
birth. Mr. Marsh died in 1897, at the age 
of sixty-live years, and was laid at rest irj 
Cherry Grove cemetery, in Washington 
township, Lee county. Mrs. Mar.sh, who 
still sur\ives at the age of seventy-three, re- 
sides in (ireen Bay township. She was 
l)orn in Delaware, and as a girl came with 
her parents west and located at Nauvoo, 
Illinois. 

After his marriage Mr. Rogers rented a 
portion of his father's farm, which he culti- 
vated and upon which he continued to re- 
side until i8(>8, when he moved to his pres- 
eut place of residence. This farm consists 
of tine farming lanrl, and is in two tracts of 
sixty-five and 140 acres, respectively. He 
has improved 4he original buildings on the 
farm, and ni;ide the entire establishment 
thoroughly imidern, having installed, among 



T38 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



other conveniences, a private gas plant for 
his own use. The residence building is a 
handsome and commodious structure sit- 
uateil amid pleasant surroundings. 

Mr. and Mrs. Rogers are members of 
Good Hope Rebecca Lodge. Xo. 267, at 
Wever, and Mrs. Rogers is a member of 
the Christian church. To Mr. and Mrs. 
Rogers have ])een born two daughters and 
one son : Ethel Rebecca, Sarah Jane and 
Harold .\rthur. Fraternally Mr. Rogers is 
a member of the Independent Order of Odd 
Fellows, No. 552, at Wever, of which he is 
Past Grand, and of Benevolent and Protec- 
tive Order of Elks. Xo. 374, at Fort Madi- 
son. In political affiliation he is a free 
thinker and considers well before casting his 
ballot. He is thoroughly progressive in his 
ideas, both as a farmer and as a citizen, and 
by his loyalty to his con\-ictions and his 
capacity for friendship has won the regard 
and respect of those who know him. 



ANDREW J. EIDSON, M. D. 

Dr. .\ndrew J. Eidson. whose scholarly 
attainments, professional skill and broad 
humanitarianism made him a man among 
men, standing as one of the representative 
citizens of Fort Madison, where he won the 
honor and respect of all, was born in Butler 
county, Ohio, on the 26th of October, 1837. 
He was the eldest in a family of four sons 
and two daughters born unto \\'^illiam M. 
and Catherine (Daugherty) Eidson, the 



former liorn in X^orth Carolina in 1814 and 
the later in Ohio in 181 7. They were mar- 
ried in Butler county, Ohio, to which place 
\\'illiam Eidson had removed in early man- 
hood. The}' afterward became residents of 
Adams county, Illinois, where the mother 
died in 1858. but the father, long surviving 
her, passed away in 1886. After the death 
of his first wife he was united in marriage 
to Mr.s. Eliza X'elson. During the Mexican 
War he offered his services to his country, 
but was not mustered into the army. His 
was an honorable and useful career, and late 
in life he became identified with the Con- 
gregational church. 

Dr. Eidson accompanied his parents on 
their removal to .Adams county, Illinois, in 
his early boyhood days and was reared upon 
the home farm there. He attended the 
common schools and l)y close application 
qualified himself for teaching, which pro- 
fession he followed in the district schools for 
several years. He regarded this, however, 
merely as an initial step to other prefes- 
sional labor, for it was his ambition to be- 
■ come a member of the medicdl fraternity. 
X^eeding further preparation for this, how- 
e\er. he entered Ouincy College, wherein he 
won the degree of Bachelor of Arts, and 
thus with broad literan,' knowledge to serve 
as the foundation upon which to rear the 
superstructure of professional learning he 
entered the McDowell College at St. Louis, 
Missouri, in 1859. Subsequently he ma- 
triculated in Rush Aledical College, of Chi- 
cago, from which he was graduated in Jan- 
uary', 1865. The following month he en- 
listed for service in the Civil War. becom- 
ing a private of Company D, One Hundred 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



139 



and Fcirty-eighth IIHikms Infantry. Illness, 
howexer, soon compelled him to go to the 
hospital, and after partially recovering he 
was made ward master of the hospital and 
its acting surgeon, which position he filled 
until discharged on account of his own 
physical disability. 

\\'lien his military service was over Dr. 
Eidson returned to Illinois and settled in 
McDonough county, where he resided until 
1 87 1, when he removed to Coatsville, Mis- 
souri. There he enjoyed a large and lucra- 
tive practice and his wife was the owner of 
a drug store there. He continued a resi- 
dent of Coatsville until 1893. when he re- 
moved to Fort Madison. He afterward 
lived a retired life, devoting his attention to 
literary piirsuits. for his practice in former 
years had brought to him a very desirable 
remuneration that enabled him to spend his 
last days without further recourse to pro- 
fessional labor. He had more than a local 
reputation as a writer and his poems have 
appeared in various periodicals fmni time 
to time. It was his intention to ha\-e these 
published in book form, but death cut short 
his work, but his widow intends publishing 
the volume of her husband's poetic produc- 
tions, many of which have received favor- 
able comment from the press. 

Dr. Eidson was a member of tiie Ma- 
sonic fraternity and for a number of years 
served as tyler of Stella Lodge, No. 440, 
Free and Accepted Masons, of Fort Madi- 
son. He was also a member of the Odd 
Fellows Lodge at Fort Madison. In politics 
he was a Republican and held the office of 
alderm.nn from the first ward for two years. 
He held membership in the Methodist 



chiu-cli. and during his life, prior to taking 
up the study of medicine, he studied the- 
ology and was known as a boy preacher, al- 
though he was never ordained. His in- 
fluence was ever on the side of right, prog- 
ress, reform and improvement and his 
career was a most honorable and straight- 
forward one. 

Dr. Eidson was married twice. In Feb- 
ruary, 1863, he \\edded Aliss Lucinda M. 
Monroe, of Cass county, Illinois, and by 
this marriage there were two children : 
Araminta A., the elder, is the wife of 
Charles C. Dean, a son of the late Hon, 
Henr)- Clay Dean, and they reside in Schuy- 
ler county, Missouri, where Mr. Dean is fol- 
lowing the occupation of farming. They 
have become the parents of four children, all 
of whom are living: Charles Cass, Leo, 
Alice and Edith. Lillie'Maude Eidson died 
the wife of Frank Waters, a son of Dr. 
Waters, of Salem, Arkansas, her remains be- 
ing interred in the cemetery at that place. 
She left three children: Eidson, deceased. 
and Annie and Cecil, who li\-e with grand- 
mother at Salem. 

l'"or his second wife Dr. Eidson cliose 
Bethany M. \Mieeler, a native of Van Bu- 
ren county, Iowa, and a daughter of Henry 
M. and Bethany M. (Charles) Wheeler. 
Mrs. liidson was born August 8. 1850, and 
resided at the place of her birth until seven 
years of age, when she accompanied her 
parents to Missouri, where they lived until 
1861. Her father was a mechanic and fol- 
lowed pursuits along that line throughout 
his entire life. He served as a member of 
the Home Cuard and during the early part 
of the Ci\'il War herded cattle for the gov- 



I40 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



ernnient. About 1862 he removed to Illi- 
nois, locating at Huntsville. He died, 
however, at Coatsville, Missouri, and his 
wife passed away at Birmingham, Illinois, 
some years prior to his death. In their fam- 
il)' were twelve cliildren, of whom Mrs. 
Eidson was the youngest. In Huntsville 
Mrs. Eidson acquired a part of her educa- 
tion. She also attended school in Birming- 
ham, Illinois, and it was there that she 
formed the acquaintance of Dr. Eidson. 
Their marriage was celebrated in Brooklyn. 
Schuyler county, Illinois, March i, 1871, and 
they afterward went to Missouri, locating 
at Coatsville, where they remained until 
their removal to Fort Madison. Unto Dr. 
and Mrs. Eidson were born three children, 
all of whom are living. Marcus M., a resi- 
dent of Manhattan, Illinois, is agent for the 
Wabash Railroad Company at that place. 
He is a member of the Masonic order and 
also of the Methodist church. South. He 
married Miss Ethel Seymour, of Sturgeon. 
Missouri, whose father is a merchant of 
that place. Edmond E., who was born in 
Coatsville and acquired his education there 
and in Fort Madison, is a machinist with 
the Iowa Farming Tool Company in the 
latter city and fraternally is connected with 
the Masonic Lodge of Fort Madison and 
also the Benevolent and Protective Order of 
Elks. Catherine E. is the wife of Benjamin 
J. Bothe, a resident of Fort Madison and 
a foreman of the finishing shop of the Iowa 
Farming Tool Company. He was born and 
reared in Fort Madison, being a son of Cas- 
per and Margaret Bothe, his father leading 
a retired life on Fifth street in Fort Mad- 
ison. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin J. 



Bdlhe has been born one son, Charles Lewis, 
born at Fort Madison and now three years 
of age. 

Dr. Eidson departetl this life on the 4th 
of September, 1903. He had during the 
period of his residence in Fort Madison 
gained many warm friends who valued him 
not only l)ecause of his professional ability, 
literary skill and scholarly attainments, but 
also because of his kindly spirit, his gen- 
erous sympathy and his genial companion- 
ship. He was a man of local prominence 
for wh(im his fellowmen entertained high 
regard because of his fidelity to duty and 
honest convictions. He possessed keen sen- 
sitiveness to the humor and pathos of life, 
its pain and its pleasures and his keen ap- 
preciation of the beautiful and the ideal was 
manifest in his writings. 



WILLIAM FULTON. 



William Indton, a resident of Keokuk, 
is a representative of one of the old families 
of Pennsylvania, tracing his ancestry back 
to .\braham Fulton and on back to Ireland. 
Abraham became the founder of the family 
in America and was a man of upright char- 
acter as is indicated by a paper which he 
brought with him from his native onintry 
and which reads : 

"Whereas, Abraham Fulton, with his 
wife and family are now moving from tliis 
country to the Continent of America, this 
is to inform whom it may concern that they 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



141 



were born and lived until tlie date hereof in 
ye parish antl beliaveil in a sober and Chris- 
tian manner and now leaves us free from 
any pulilick scanilal or other censm'e. Cer- 
tified at Articlav, in the Kingdom of Ireland, 
this 26th (.lay of May, 1772, by 

M. Kxox, V. D. M.. 
H. Caldwell, 
Robert Guthry, 

Elders." 
Abraham Fulton was the father of Rob- 
ert Fulton, who was the father of William 
Fulton, Sr.. who served in the Revolution- 
ary War. William I-'ulton, Sr., was born in 
Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, and 
became a volunteer for service in the War 
of 18 1 2, haxing charge of wagons and 
transportation. He married Miss Nancy 
r^eairs, who was born in 1791 and the)' be- 
came the parents of three sons who reached 
manhood, but William Fulton, of this re- 
\'iew, is the only son now li\'ing. The father 
' died in Westmoreland county. Pennsyhania, 
in 185 I, and his remains were interred there. 
The mother, however, long survived him 
and coming west, passed away in 1882 in 
her ninety-second year, the burial being iri 
the Kcdkuk cemetery. 

William Indton. the subject of this 
sketch, was born in Westmoreland county, 
Pennsylvania. June 4, 1829, and in his youth 
receix'ed but moderate school privileges. 
lh)we\cr. he aftcrw.ard attended Washing- 
ton College in Pennsylvania, and was grad- 
uated with the class of 1854. While in col- 
lege he was ciiosen as essayest in a contest 
and was awarded tlie favoral)le verdict as 
preparing the l)est essay among those in 
the two literary societies contesting. This 



contest was an annual event and he chose as 
his subject the "Flements of American 
Literature." \\ ben twenty-three years of 
age he left home and went South. He did 
not lea\e, bi)\\e\er. until after election 
day, when he cast iiis first presidential bat- 
lot for Franklin Pierce. Mr. Fulton spent 
about two years in teaching school in pri- 
\'ate families in Lnuisiana, being located in 
Concordia Parish and elsewlierc in that 
state. He also read law while in the South 
with a Air. Perkins, who afterward became 
a member of Jefferson Davis's cabinet dur- 
ing the Southern Confederacy. 

in 1856 Mr. I'\iIton returned t(.i the 
Xorth and spent the winter in teaching in 
his home district in Penns\'l\-ania. In April, 
1857, however, he came to Keokuk and 
read law with the firm of Hornish & Lomax 
for a year. He was admitted to the bar 
at Albia, Iowa, and practiced with his pre- 
ceptor, John P. Hornish. In 1862, iiowever, 
he turned his attention to the insurance and 
real estate business and on accoinit of defec- 
tive hearing he has not been actively con- 
nected with the legal profession for twenty 
years. His time and energies instead have 
been devoted to the building up of a good 
insurance and real estate business and in 
this he has met with fair success. He lias 
acted as special adjuster for the Phoenix, 
Hartford, Liverpool, London and Globe In- 
surance Companies in Missouri. Iowa, Kan- 
sas, Nebraska and Illinois. 

During the period of the Civil War Mr. 
I-"ulton was a memlier of the City Rilles, 
which was afterward merged into tlie state 
milili.i. It was an organization preparing 
men for active service and seventy-two men 



142 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



were enlisted from the City Rifles. Its pur- 
pose was for local defense and for the pro- 
tection of ammunition and supplies stored 
here. x\Ir. Fulton was in the battle of 
Athens, was promoted to the rank of ser- 
geant and served as secretary of his com- 
pany. 

He served as alderman from the fourth 
ward for two years and was school director 
of Keokuk for four years. His interest in 
communitv affairs is deep and sincere and 
has been manifested in active co-operation 
in many measures for the general good. He 
was secretary of the public library for eight 
or ten years, and has been co-operant factor 
in the promotion of religious interests in 
his city. He has twice been sent as a dele- 
gate to the general assembly of the Presby- 
terian church, attending its conventions in 
Washington and Cincinnati, and has served 
as deacon and elder in his church contin- 
uously from the time that he was admitted 
as a member in 1866. He was largely in- 
strumental in securing the erection of the 
Presbyterian house of worship in 1872, act- 
ing as secretary of the building committee. 
Fraternally he is connected with the Inde- 
pendent Order of Odd Fellows. His in- 
fluence can always be counted upon in behalf 
of right, progress, reform and improvement 
and in good citizenship his strong qualities 
are such as commend him to the good will 
and confidence of all. 

On the 22d of June, 1865, Mr. Fulton 
was married at Keokuk to Miss Elizabeth 
Dalzell, who was born in Pittsburg, Penn- 
sylvania, in 1832. They have four chil- 
dren : Nannie Peairs, who is librarian in 
the public library; Robert Dalzell, who is 



with tlie Northwestern Paint Company, of 
Portland, Oregon ; James McQueen, now 
employed in the freight department of the 
^^^abash Railroad at Keokuk, and Mary 
Elizabeth, an employe of the Iowa State In- 
surance Company, living at home. 



NELSON COMMINS ROBERTS. 

The modern newspaper, wherever it as- 
pires to.be anything more than a village 
newsletter, demands both business skill and 
intellectual ability in its management. Es- 
pecially is this true of those publications that 
are somewhat metropolitan in their charac- 
ter, and undertake to enforce ideas and ad- 
vance policies as well as to disseminate the 
news. The editorial profession is a field 
where character, ability and integrity are 
factors of success in no small degree; and 
he who ocaipies the editorial chair largely 
sways the destiny of the country. And 
while it is true he may not far outrun public 
opinion, still he leads. Day after day, and 
week after week, he leads, exhorts and en- 
treats, and gradually the people follow him. 
They respect his moral character, yield to 
his fervid appeals, and adopted his opinions 
as their own. 

A striking illustration of the editor at 
his best estate is presented in the life his- 
tory and personal character of the gentleman 
whose name introduces this article. Mr. 
Roberts, the editor of the Fort Madison 
Dailv Democrat and Fort Madison Weekly 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



143 



Democrat, enjoys more than a local reputa- 
tion as a master of the editorial art. His 
till night is clear and deep, his style modeled 
upon the masters, and admirably calculated 
to impress his readers, while his English is 
pure and simple. He has taken a very high 
rank in his chosen profession and is very 
popular in the community where his work is 
done. 

Nelson Commins Roberts was born in 
Otsego, Michigan, October 11, 1856, and is 
the second son of Dr. Abel C. and Emily 
A. (Cole) Roberts. His parents removed to 
Fort Madison in 1839, nnd here he was given 
such lil)eral educational advantages as the 
times afforded and the finances of his parents 
permitted. He graduated from the Fort 
Madison Academy in 1872, and f<^r a time 
was a student in the high school (the i)repar- 
atory school of the University of Michigan) 
at Ann .\rbor. In 1874 he tecame con- 
nected with the Fort Madison Democrat, 
where he mastered the printer's trade in all 
its details. Later on he was an assistant in 
the business end of the administration of the 
paper. Here he also did editorial work until 
his appointment as postmaster of Fort Mad- 
ison by President Cleveland in 1893, took 
him out of the sphere of active newspaper 
work. I le entered upon his official duties 
June I, 1893, and continued to discharge the 
functions of that position until September 7, 
1897, to the very great satisfaction of the 
Fort Madison public. At that time he gave 
way to a Republican successor. 

Mr. Roberts removerl in November, 1897, 
to Keokuk, where be l)ecame business man- 
ager of the Constitution-Democrat. In this 
•capacity he remained in Kenkuk until De- 



cemljer 31, 1898, when he came back to 
Fort Madison to take charge of the Demo- 
crat, which he had acquired by lease from 
his father. Dr. Roberts. In 1901 he pur- 
chased the entire plant, which has greatly 
expanded under his very capable manage- 
ment into a very extensive business. It is 
now one of the influential publications of the 
state, and its editorials are freely quoted 
oil all matters of general interest. 

-Mr. Roljerts is a prominent member of 
the ^Masonic fraternity, and is well versed in 
its mystic lore. He is a member of Clay- 
])oo]e I>odge, No. 13. Free and Accepted 
Masons, Potowonok Chapter No. 28, Royal 
Arch !\Iasons, and Delta Commandery No. 
51, Knights Templar, all well-known Fort 
Madison fraternities. He is also connected 
with Zeraphath Consistory (thirty-second 
degree). Valley, of Davenport, Iowa, Kaaba 
Temple, Ancient Arabic Order Nobles Mys- 
tic Shrine, also of Davenport, and Fort.Mad- 
ison Lodge, No. 374, Benevolent and Pro- 
tective Order of Elks. At one time he held 
membership in Gem City Lodge. No. Ji, 
Knights of Pythias, and Fort Madison 
Lodge, Xo. 157, Independent Order of Odd 
Fellows, and is a non-resident member of 
the (iiicago Press Club. For three years he 
was a member of the school Ixiard, and is 
now on the board of directors of the Catter- 
mole Memorial Library. 

Mr. Roberts's zeal and his ability as a 
political leader were early recognized by his 
party and he was soon called to the front. 
For some years he served on the Democratic 
county central committee, of which lie was 
chairman two terms. From 1900 to 1904, 
he was on the Democratic State Central 



144 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



Committee, of which body he was secretary 
the last two years. In this connection his 
services have been very valuable throughout 
the state, and the loyal workers of the party 
have everywhere laeen glad to meet and know 
this capable exponent of Jeffersonian 
Democracy. 

The wedding ceremonies of Mr. Roberts 
and Miss James Preston were celebrated 
September 23, 1880. To this very happy 
union have come three children : Preston E,, 
Ruth E., and Dorothy V. Mrs. Rol)erts is 
an accomplished lady and is a worthy as- 
sociate of her gifted husband. They liave 
many friends wherever they are known, and 
are esteemed and beloved alike for their 
strength of character, general intelligence 
and social spirit. 



EDWARD M. BUCK, M. D. 

That success is the result of individual 
merit is true of the learned professions to an 
extent that does nut obtain in any other field 
of human effort, and the prominence which 
Dr. E. M. P.uck is achieving as a practicing 
physician at Montrose, Iowa, is especially 
creditable to him' because he owes his pres- 
ent position to his own energy, determina- 
tion and desire to accomplish a useful work- 
in the world, and has pursued this laudable 
object in spite of many obstacles that would 
ba\'e meant defeat had he been possessed of 
a less forceful character. Dr. Buck was 
born September 5, 1865, near Kahoka, Mis- 



souri, the son of A. Y. and Mary (Helmick) 
Buck and the third of a family of six broth- 
ers and- sisters, the others being as follows : 
Txlrs. Eleanor Brenn, of Fort Madison; Mrs. 
Clara Fleming, of W'ayland, Missouri ; Ella 
F.. deceased; Effie, wife of William Buck- 
ley, of New Winchester, Missouri; John W. 
and Orvey C. A. Y. Buck, who is a native 
of Indiana and by occupation a farmer, came 
to Lee county with his father in 1858, and 
the family was living in Montrose township 
when the disturbances which drove the 
church of the' Latter Day Saints from the 
Mississippi \-alley culminated in the l)urn- 
ing of the Mormon temple just across the 
ri\'er in Xauvoo, Illinois. Thence he re- 
moved to Green Bay township, antl in 1861 
to Clark county, Missouri, where the doc- 
trine of secession was then ver)- imjjular and 
the situation was one full of danger for 
supporters of the Union cause, and there he 
still continues to reside on a farm of 160 
acres. During the closing year of the Civil 
\\'ar he was in active military service for a 
time, being a member of the militia. 

Our subject grew to years of maturity 
in the work of his father's farm, and in 1890 
he heeded the call of ambition and returned 
to Lee county to take employment in Huis- 
kamp Brothers' shoe factory at Keokuk, and 
at the same time to enter his name 
as a student in Keokuk Medical College. 
For six years he was engaged in the work 
of the factory and in the pursuit of his med- 
ical studies, and on March 3. 1896, he was 
graduated from Keokuk Medical College, 
While at Keokuk he wedded Miss "Virginia 
Spicer in 1892, and .she died November 13, 
1895, survived h\ one child. Earl. On May 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



•45 



20, 1897, he was united in marriage to Miss 
Pauline Strong, a native of Keokuk, and to 
them iiave been born four cliildren, as fol- 
lows: Morris, who died at the age of two 
years; Theodore, born December 14, 1900; 
Carroll, born October 7, 1902; and Eulnlia. 
born Septeml>er 9, 1904. Immediately upon 
his graduation Dr. Buck removed to Mont- 
rose, March 5, 1896, and here established 
himself in the general practice of medicine 
and surgery. In his work here the perfec- 
tion of liis scientific preparation, the high 
qualities of his mind and heart — his sound, 
practical judgment and genial disposition — 
have endeared him to the people and won 
for him an enviable place in the afifairs of 
the community in which his useful career is 
being passed. Among the members of his 
profession he is widelv known, and is a 
member of the Lee County Medical Society 
and of the Iowa State Medical Society, while 
in fraternal circles he holds membership in 
the local lodge of the Independent Order of 
Odd Fellows and in Camp No. 853 of the 
Modern Woodmen of America and is exam- 
ining physician for the Mutual Protective 
League and for the Bankers' Life Associa- 
tion of Des Moines. In his political faith 
he is a believer in the doctrines of the Re- 
publican party, and while he does not aspire 
to the honor of public office, he acts as 
official physidan to the municipal board of 
health. His own interests are closely allied 
with those of the community, as he con- 
siders this his j)erniancnt home, having 
erected a substantia! dwelling here in 1900, 
and is a stockholder in the Montrose Sav- 
ings I'ank. of which he was one of the in- 
corporators. 



ASA TURNER HOUSTON. 

.\s a worthy representative of one of 
Lee county's sturdy and capable pioneer 
families the name of Asa Turner Houston 
may well be chosen, for it stands high upon 
the list of younger farmers who have made 
themselves felt in the afifairs of the com- 
munity. Mr. Houston was born on the farm 
on wliicli he now resides, located on section 
34, Denmark township, Lee county, Iowa, 
on August 18, 1868, and is the son of John, 
Jr., and Maria (Sturges) Houston, his father 
being a native of Lyndeboro, New Hamp- 
shire, where he was born December 15, 
1823; and John Houston, Jr., was the son 
of John, Sr., and Zerviah (Fields) Houston. 
John Houston, Sr.. was horn June 5, 1787, 
and on March 21, i8ii, married Miss Fields 
who was born November i, 1784, and to 
them were born the following sons and 
daughters: Alliert F.. horn January 15, 
181 J ; Laura, who married \\'illi;nii Davis, 
was born .\ugust 13. 1813. Abigail, born 
.\pril 2. 1812, became the wife of Dr. 
George Shedd, a pioneer physici;ii of the 
village of Denmark; Sarah, born October 
7, 1816. married W'arrL-n Henderson; 
.?erviah, who became the wife of Mr. 
Bell, was born July 13. 182 1 ; John, father 
of our subject, born December 15, 1823; 
Joseph, born Sei)tember 13, 1826, now re- 
sides in lUirlington, Iowa, and is the 
only survivor of his f;ither's family; 
and Mary Jane, born May 28, 1829, 
married Joseph Ingalls. WHien ten years of 
age John Houston, Jr., removed with his 
p.irents to I^well, Massachusetts, where 
his father was a mechanic in a woolen 



146 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



factory, and tliere he pursued his edu- 
cation in the city schools preparatory 
to entering college, l)ut before the time 
for his graduation the family again re- 
moved, having resolved to locate in the 
^\''est, and traveling by rail to Albany, 
New York, where they took the Erie canal 
to Buffalo, thence by the lakes to Chicago, 
and from Chicago westward by wagon, they 
arrived in Lee county after a long and trv'- 
ing journey. Upon their arrival here they 
took up their residence with Ira Houston, 
brother of John Houston, Sr., with whom 
they continued to reside until a dwelling 
could be erected upon the farm which they 
had purchased, they having bought eighty 
acres of land at $1.25 an acre with money 
earned by the daughter Laura as a school 
teacher before leaving the East. L'pon this 
farm the father and mother of the family 
passed the remainder of their lives in the 
pursuit of their vocation and in devotion to 
the higher needs of the community, they 
being faithful workers in the Congrega- 
tional church. Both were buried in the Den- 
mark cemetery. 

After coming to Iowa John Houston, 
Jr., taught school for a number of years, 
and in 1849 he was united in marriage to 
Miss Maria Sturges, daughter of Isaac and 
Sarah Sturges, both natives of Connecticut 
who joined the colony from that state at 
Granville, Ohio, where their daughter was 
born April 20, 1827, and came to Lee county 
with her brother, Albert A., who was the 
first teacher in the Denmark Academy and 
one of the three who established the mission 
at the Island of Micronesia. Soon after 
their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Houston took 



up their residence on the old Houston home- 
stead, to which Mr. Houston eventually ad- 
ded another eighty acres, and here he gave 
his attention to farming and cheesemaking, 
always maintaing a large daily, which was 
the source of considerable profit. He was 
very successful in his business, and attained 
to much prominence in public affairs as a 
loyal supporter of the Republican party and 
its doctrines, being elected to the office of 
assessor and to a number of minor official 
positions, in which his faithfulness to the 
interests of others was always conspicuous 
and was the determining factor in all his 
public acts. He was also an active worker 
in the Congregational church of Denmark, 
in which he was a deacon, continuing this 
connection until his death, which occurred 
on December 23, 1898. He is buried 
at Denmark, survived by his widow, who 
now resides in the \-illage of Denmark, 
and bv a numerous family. To them 
were born the following children : .\1- 
bert S., born July 6, 185 1, who was gradu- 
ated from Denmark Academy, from Grin- 
nell College and from the Theological 
School of Chicago, and for a number of 
years acted as a missionary' at the Island of 
^licronesia, but is now deceased ; Servia J,, 
born September 8, 1853, who is the wife of 
Charles A. Swift and is a resident of Ore- 
gon : Warren H., born November 23, 1854, 
who was educated at Oberlin College and 
is now a Congregational minister in Kan- 
sas: Laura M., born Novemljer 27, 1856, 
who was a successful teacher prior to her 
marriage, is the wife of Fred Bement. of 
Sioux Falls. South Dakota; Mary E., born 
Januarv 2t;. 18 ^q, who is a teacher and re- 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



147 



sides in Denmark; Ilattie A., bom August 
7, 1862, wife of William Hitchcock, pro- 
Jessor in Jaffna College, Ceylon, India; Jdhn 
J., born May 23, 1865, who died at the age 
of four years; and Asa Turner, the subject 
of this review. 

Mr. Houston received his formal school- 
ing in Denmark Academy, a training which 
he has since supplemented by extensive read- 
ing and observation, and has always resided 
on the home farm, which is known as the 
Fairview farm and which he purchased after 
his father's death. In 1899 he wedded Miss 
Mary Leverett, of Denmark, and one son, 
Clyde Leverett, and one daughter, Florence 
Sturges, grace their union. Mr. Houston is 
engaged in stockraising and in general 
farming, in both of which he has grati- 
fying success, having been trained to work 
since his early years and having made a 
study of the problems involved under the 
direction of his father and later independ- 
ently, keeping abreast of modern progress 
by reading along the line of scientific in- 
vestigation which has a bearing upon his 
occupations as a farmer and stockraiser. 
He gives his support consistently to the Re- 
publican party, as embodying in its princi- 
ples the fundamentals of political science 
as necessarily applied to American condi- 
tions, and is widely known in this portion of 
the county as a representative of agricul- 
tural interests. He is at the present time 
one of the trustees of Denmark .Xcademy, a 
position for which he is eminently fitted by 
business aliility and liy his training and 
well-known devotion to the cause of eduai- 
tion, while the connection is of benefit to the 
institution by reason of his prominent stand- 



ing in the community. Mr. and Mrs. Hous- 
ton are members of the Congregational 
church, being active and helpful in its vari- 
uds departments of endeavor, and their 
beautiful home is a prominent center of 
social life on a high plane, for they have 
many friends who yield them respect and 
esteem. 



HUGH H. CRAIG. 



Although a young man and a compara- 
tively recent addition to the legal fraternity 
in Keokuk, Hugh H. Craig in the short 
space of three and a half years has demon- 
strated himself to be the possessor of unus- 
ual aptitude and enthusiasm for his chosen 
profession, in which he has already achieved 
a gratif_\-ing degree of success and if past 
attainment be a criterion for prophecy is 
destined to genuine distinction and a high 
plane of usefulness. A native of Keokuk, 
he was born October i, 1874, the son of 
John H. Craig, now deceased, a sketch of 
whose career and lineage appears elsewhere 
in these pages. His preliminary education 
was obtained in the public schools of this' 
city, and he is a graduate of Keokuk high 
school, class of 1892, but lieing ambitious 
for further training, he entered Parsons Col- 
lege, at Fairfield, Iowa, in which institution 
he ]nirsuc(l ri th'irougli course of classical 
study and was graduated in 1896 with the 
degree of Bachelor of Arts. 

Mr. Craig early determined in favor of 
tiie law as a lifelong vocation, and on his 



148 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



graduation entered the law offices of John 
E. Craig in this city, where he studied for 
several months, but with a view to obtaining 
a variety of experience he then accepted a 
position as city editor of the Gate City, a 
leading daily newspaper of Keokuk, con- 
tinuing in that line of work with marked 
success for three years, at the expiration of 
which period he resigned and resumed the 
study of law. Shortly afterward, in Sep- 
tember, 1899, he was appointed by the 
county board of supervisors a justice of the 
peace, and after ser\-ing in that capacity until 
the following November was elected to fill 
the unexpired term for which he was orig- 
inally appointed, and discharged the duties 
of the office in an acceptable manner until 
January i, 1901. Meantime he had contin- 
ued his legal studies, and in May, 1901, he 
was admitted to the bar, since which time 
he has devoted his attention to general prac- 
tice. 

Mr. Craig has shown himself to be a 
young man loyally devoted to the general 
welfare, and has assumed a prominent part 
in local politics as a member of the Democ- 
racy, having served his party for four years 
as secretary of the county central commit- 
tee and for two years as secretary of the 
Keokuk committee, while he is also an active 
member of the board of directors of the As- 
sociated Charities of Keokuk, and since 
March of the past year has serve<l the 
public as a member of the municipal board 
of education. He maintains substantial re- 
lations with industrial interests in Keokuk, 
being secretary of the Keokuk Improvement 
Company, and in the fraternal world of this 
city and of Iowa he is conceded a leading 



position, being Past Exalted Ruler of Keo- 
kuk Lodge, No. 106, Benevolent and Protec- 
tive Order of Elks, an office to which he was 
elected after a membership of only ten 
months in the order, at present trastee of 
the Keokuk Lodge and member of the 
Grand Lodge, to which he has been twice 
elected re])resentati\e, and having attended 
the session of the Grand Lodge at Baltimore 
in 1903: while he sustains membership rela- 
tions with the National L^nion and with 
Morning Star Lodge, No. 5, of Keokuk, 
Knights of Pythias. Connected thus at 
many important points of contact with the 
varied interests of hfs native city, his rapid 
advancement is viewed with pleasure by 
man}- an experienced leader who, having 
played a worthy role in the upbuilding of 
the community, now looks about him to dis- 
cover younger and stalwart shoulders upon 
which to cast his honored mantle. 



GEORGE B. SMYTH. 

The life record of George B. Smyth has 
been an iihportaht factor in shaping the 
policy, promoting the upbuilding and ad^ 
vancing the permanent development of Keo- 
kuk. He has by his far-sightedness and busi- 
ness sagacity upheld the city integrity and 
his efforts have also extended to measures 
of moment to state and nation. He has left 
the impress of his individuality upon Keo- 
kuk's annals and is today one of her venei^- 
able citizens, respected and honored for 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



149 



what he has accompHshed and for the 
straightforward metliods he has ever pur- 
sued in both business and public hfe. His 
father, George B. Smyth, Sr., was a native 
of Rosconiniiin county. Ireland, and mar- 
ried Annabel I. McDonough, who was born 
in New York. Her father, Francis McDon- 
ough, was a native of Galway county, Ire- 
land, while his wife was born in England. 

George B. Smyth was born in Rising Sun, 
Ohio county. Indiana. October 14, 1828, and 
his early education was supplemented by 
study in the seminary of that place, his tu- 
tors being Professor IMcGufifey, the com- 
])iler of the McGufTcy text-books and Pro- 
fessor Banvick. The former was a one- 
legged man, with whom Mr. Smyth had 
some schoolroom difficulty. Becoming in- 
censed at the course taken by the professor 
he threw an ink bottle at him, which struck 
his leg and went through a knothole in the 
floor, while the professor fell over on the 
floor. Mr. Smyth then made his escape but 
afterward returned to the institution. In 
his early life his parents removed to Bayou 
Sara. West Feliciana Parish, Louisiana, 
where he continued his education, remaining 
there initil the death of his parents, one pass- 
ing away in August, 1840, and the other in 
December of the same year. Upon the death 
of his mother, his uncle. Lawrence McDon- 
ough, was appointed his guardian by the 
State of Louisiana and being then tired of 
school life Mr. Smyth entered the employ of 
John C. Morris, who was an intimate friend 
of his parents and who was conducting a 
large general store and two plantations in 
Louisiana. He was a man of considerable 
wealth and Mr. Sni\-th remained with him 



in the store for about two years, after which 
he returned to Rising Sun, Indiana, in 1843, 
antl completed his education at the seminary. 
He there pursued higher branches of study 
and during the last year of his own course 
he also taught nine classes in the seminary. 
\\'hen his education was completed he ac- 
cepted a position in the extensive dry goods 
establishment of Zeillar Brothers, and was 
afterward for two years with the firm of C. 
Garber & Company. He then became pur- 
chaser for their clothing department and 
acted in that capacity until April, 1849, 
when he came to Keokuk, Iowa, continuing 
in a clerical position with the firm at this 
place. He afterward formed a partnership 
with A. L. Connable in 1852 and went into 
the wholesale grocery business and continued 
with that establishment for twenty years, 
when the firm purchased five acres of ground 
in West Keokuk and erected a large stone 
packing house, costing with its equipment 
$125,000. In one year after the cold stor- 
age plant had been installed, 100,000 head 
of hogs and 2.500 head of cattle were killed 
and stored therein. In 1880 A. L. Con- 
nable retired from active business and Mr. 
Smyth purchased his interest in the packing 
house, which was then conducted under the 
firm name of George B. Smyth & Companx', 
and for some time an extensive and profit- 
able business was carried on. 

It was during this time that the city of 
Keokuk, having endorsed largely the bonds 
of thff Keokuk, Fort Des Moines, Minnesota 
Railway, afterward the Des Moines Valley 
Railroad, as well as the bonds of the Keo- 
kuk, Muscatine & Minnesota Railroad and 
the Mississippi & Wabash Valley Railroad, 



ISO 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



found itself facing a difficult financial prob- 
lem. The interest upon the bonds had been 
due for many years and the question was de- 
cided in the supreme court of Iowa that the 
city was not responsible for the bonds not 
having received proper consideration for 
same. The supreme court of the United 
States, however, ruled that the holders of 
said bonds were innocent purchasers thereof 
and that the city of Keokuk was responsible 
to them lor the bonds. During this litiga- 
tion the interest on the bonds accrued until 
with the principal there was an indebted- 
ness against the city of $3,000,000, a part 
of which was in judgment, the city being to- 
tally unalile to pay the amount. At this junc- 
ture in 1869 Mayor A. J. Wilkinson called 
a meeting of about forty prominent men for 
the purpose of considering and debating a 
form of settlement through compromise of 
the large city debt. After full consideration 
of the question by the assembled citizens 
George B. Smyth was recommended for ap- 
pointment as commissioner to the the city 
council and was appointed as acting commis- 
sioner for Keokuk for the settlement of the 
debt through compromise. The other com- 
missioners were Samuel F. Miller, associ- 
ate justice of the United States supreme 
court; George W. McCrary, congressman, 
secretary of war under President Hayes, 
United States district judge and solicitor of 
the Santa Fe Rairoad : and William Tim- 
berman. 

Mr. Smyth had plenary authority to set- 
tle the debt as if it was a private business 
interest, the compromise to be by contract 
with the city, three per cent, on the first 
$200,000, four per cent, on the next $200,- 



000 and five per cent, on the third $200,- 
000 and all necessary expenses to be paid 
by the city. As it would be difficult to keep 
such matters out of politics Mr. Smyth 
adopted the following manner of settle- 
ment. In each settlement made with a 
holder of a city bond a descriptive receipt 
of such settlement was written by Mr. 
Smyth in a bound receipt book, showing the 
terms and conditions of the settlement and 
upon the payment of the conditions the 
holder of the bond signed that receipt, un- 
der which there could be no collusion of in- 
terest. Mr. Smyth represented the inter- 
ests of the city of Keokuk and succeeded to 
a large extent in making settlements. Re- 
ferring to his report as fiscal agent made to 
the mayor and council of Keokuk April i, 
1877, it is seen that there was a settlement 
of bonds to the value of $405,341.18 and 
$394,240.43 in judgments. Many settle- 
ments were made thereafter and Mr. Smyth 
deserves the greatest credit for what he ac- 
complished for the city in this direction. 

Mr. Smyth was appointed receiver of 
the Des Moines Valley Railroad Company 
by Judge John Mitchell, of Polk county, in 
1876, and was discharged on the 19th of 
September, of that year. He was appointed 
receiver for Ayer & Sellew, hardware deal- 
ers, by Judge W. J. Jeffries, of the circuit 
court of Lee county in 1883 and gave bond 
for $10,000. When he had fulfilled the du- 
ties of the position he was discharged Sep- 
tember 5, 1883. He received appointment 
from Judge George W. McCrarj'. of the 
United States circuit court, as receiver of the 
St. Joe & Western Railroad, a line of 252 
miles and in its receivership he gave bond 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



151 



for $100,000. He had complete control of 
the road until relieved January 16, 1884. 
He was president of the Des Moines Valley 
Railroad Company, a member of its board 
of directors, one of its stockholders and one 
of the official executives of the road for 
many years. 

In public affairs ]\Ir. Smyth has been 
prominent and influential. He was presi- 
dent of the Keokuk Librarx- Association for 
three years and then refused positively to 
serve longer. He was mayor of Keokuk in 
1863 during the exciting period of the War 
of the Rebellion and municipal interests have 
claimed his attention and received his active 
co-operation when he believed that his en- 
dorsement of any measure would contribute 
to the general good. He was made chair- 
man of a committee appointed by the Mis- 
sissippi river convention held in Keokuk 
and was instructed by the convention to 
visit St. Louis and co-operate with the ap- 
pointee of the Merchants' Exchange, which 
appointed D. A. January, president of the 
St. Louis Chamber of Commerce as its rep- 
resentative to prepare a memorial in con- 
nection with Mr. Smyth to be presented to 
both branches of congress and secured maps 
of the river at the Des Moines Rapids that 
an appropriation might be made for the 
building of a canal commencing at Keokuk 
and extending northward for eight miles at 
an expense of $4,000,000. All this was 
done and the subject presented so clearly and 
convincingly to congress that an appropri- 
ation of upwards of $4,000,000 was made 
for the building and er|uipnient of the canal 
and lock system now used for the passage of 



river steamers. Mr. Smyth was appointed 
by I^utherford B. Hayes as government di- 
rector of the Union Pacific Railway on the 
2d of March, 1878. For two years he was 
a member of its finance committee in con- 
nection with Russell Sage and for one year 
was on the executive committee with J. 
Gould. There were four regular meetings 
held in New York or Boston each year and 
occasionally a called meeting and these Mr. 
Smyth attended. The duties of the com- 
mittee were to examine into the physical 
condition of property and make reports to 
the Secretary' of the Interior and the entire 
report for the year 1880 was made by Mr. 
Smyth. After the sale of the Des Moines 
Valley Railroad it was necessary for tlie 
land grant bondholders to take lands in 
northwestern Iowa, the land grant covering 
more than 700,000 acres. It was arranged 
that a portion of the land grant bondholders 
were to fund their bunds into land in north- 
western Iowa at a vahiation placed upon the 
land by the land commission of the road 
and the balance of the land grant bondhold- 
ers were to take the railroad which they did, 
reorganizing it as the Des Moines & Fort 
Dodge Railway Company. As the vice- 
president of the road Mr. Smyth signed 
deeds for nearly the entire 700,000 acres 
of land and his work in this connection cov- 
ered several years' time. On one occasion 
Mr. Smyth was a trustee and a member of 
the commission for the location of Parsons 
College at Fairfield, Iowa. Although closely 
associated with the railroad negotiations 
and municipal affairs he at the same time 
carried on his private business interests and 



T=;2 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



in 1877-8 was president of the Pori< Pack- 
ers' Convention of the United States, which 
in that year convened in Keokuk. 

Air. Smytli had a personal acquaintance 
with Samuel S. Clemens, "Mark Twain." 
when he was devil in a printing establish- 
ment and afterward when he was pilot on 
the ri\'er steamers. He sold over 500 copies 
of Twain's book "Following the Equator, 
a Journey Around the World." He was 
also a personal acquaintance of Henry Clay 
Dean, the eloquent lawyer of "Rebel's 
Cave." 

Mr. Smyth was married in Fort Madi- 
son, Iowa, October I, 1850, to Miss Martha 
M. Chambers, who was born October 22,. 
1829, and died April 21, 1903. The follow- 
ing tribute 'was paid her bv the officers of 
the Presbyterian church "A Mary in the 
house of God, a Martha in her own." They 
were the parents of five daughters and one 
son : Belle, now deceased ; SaUie C. ; Mrs. 
D. A. Collier, who.se husband is with the 
Blom-Collier Company, of Keokuk ; Mrs. 
John D. Rubidge, of Keokuk; Mrs. Samuel 
Edwards, of Rock Island, whose husband is 
a cix'il and hydraulic engineer with offices at 
Rock Island, having been in the government 
employ for many years and now acting as 
assistant superintendent of the river be- 
tween Rock Island and Dubuque: and 
George B., Jr., who is !i\-ing in Ogden, 
I'tah. .Since 1838 Mr. Smyth has been a 
leading member of the First Westminister 
Presbyterian church and for a number of 
years served as one of its elders, but after- 
ward resigned. He has been a frequent con- 
tributor to newspapers, being asked to write 
upon various subjects. His political alle- 



giance was given to the Democracy until the 
outbreak of the Civil War, when he became 
a stanch Republican. For thirty-one \^ars 
the family home has been at the a)rner of 
First and Concerts streets in Keokuk. In 
the course of an active career Mr. Smyth 
accumulated a handsome competency, but 
unfortunate investment and decline in the 
price of land grant bonds lost him over 
$150,000, these financial reverses coming 
to him in 1876. He afterward engaged in 
the real estate and insurance business which 
he still continues. His has been, however, 
a very active and useful career, his labors 
proving of benefit to his city and state in 
large measure so that his name should be 
engraven deeply upon its history. 



ARTHUR CHARLES CATTERMOLE. 

.Arthur Charles Cattermole, now de- 
ceased, was in his active life one of the 
prominent citizens of Fort Madison, taking 
such a part in the various affairs of that city 
as his high character, striking business 
ability and large mental endowments would 
demand and justify. From a very early day 
he was associated with iiuportant commer- 
cial and business enterprises of the city, antl 
on all occasions proved himself a reliable and 
trustworthy gentleman. Beginning in a 
modest way, he rose to a commanding posi- 
tion in the city of his adoption, and became 
popular with a wide circle of friends and 
acquaintance, who learned to appreciate 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



153 



liis many excellent qualities, and to prize him 
for his real worth. 

Mr. Cattermole was a native of London, 
England, where he first inhaled the vital air 
July 29, 1829. a son of James C. Catter- 
mole, a native of Suffolk, Enghunl, wliose 
father was a farmer the most of his life. 

James C. Cattermole came to the 
United States in the spring of 1832, and 
made his home in Cincinnati, Ohio, then ;i 
lively frontier city, where he remained four 
years, taking an actixe jiart in its bus)' life. 
From Cincinnati he rcninvcd to a farm in 
Hancock county, Illinois, where lie was en- 
gaged in the cultivation of the soil until 
1831. That year he settled in Fort Madison. 
Iowa, which continued to be his home until 
his fleath in 1862, at the adxanced age of 
eighty-one years. When a young man he 
was married to Miss Xaomi Tillett, a native 
of the English county in which his birth oc- 
curred. She died in I'ort Madison when 
seventy-fi\-e years old. leaving tender 
memories of a wife, mother and friend, and 
was known in the community as a wortliy 
Christian woman. She was the mother of 
nine children, of whom the subject of this 
sketch was the youngest child. Elizabeth, 
a daughter, married Henry Cattermole, 
who.'?e sketch may be found on another page 
of this volume. 

.\rthur Charles Cattermole came with 
his parents to this country when he was 
only three years old, and continued with 
them, de\oting himself to their welfare, until 
their settlement in I'ort Madison, when he 
became a clerk in the store of Peter Miller, 
then a noted establishment in that city. In 
1852 he retired from Mr. Miller's employ. 



and giiing to .Alexander, Missouri, took en- 
tire charge of the wholesale and retail dry 
goods and grocery business of Thomas Fitz- 
gerald, a position which he helil until 1859. 
in which he not only demonstrated large 
ability for commercial lines but also in- 
tegrit\- and honesty in a degree not often 
encountered. 

In 1839 .Mr. Cattermole returned to Fort 
-Madison and formed a ])artnership with his 
cousin and brother-in-law, Henry Catter- 
mole, who had ni:u"ried his sister Elizabeth, 
as noted al>o\e. Thev engaged in ;i pork- 
packing and grocery business under the firm 
name of H. & .A. C. Cattermole, a business 
that long continued and became very pros- 
perous. In 1871 Henry Cattermole retired 
in fa\()r of his partner, who carried on the 
entire enterprise until 1882, when he retiretl 
from active life. After becoming sole owner 
of the business Mr. Cattermole disposed of 
the grocen' trade, and dcv'oted himself en- 
tirely to the packing interest, in which he 
was N'ery successful, and became quite 
wealthy. 

L'pon the organization of the (lerman 
American Bank of Fort .Madison, .\rthur C. 
Cattermole became one of its stockholders 
and was chosen \ice-presi(lent. Here his 
conceded business abilities had full play, and 
t(i him this bank, now one of the solid finan- 
cial institutions of the city, is very largely 
indebted for its splendid organization and 
building. Its management has been careful 
an<l conservative, but at the same time 
always ready to help the city and aid every 
laudable enterprise. Mr. Cattermole was an 
official of the bank until the day of his death. 
.\rthur C. Cattermole was married Xovem- 



154 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



ber II, 1869, to Miss Caroline Wilson, a 
native of Cincinnati, Ohio, and a daughter 
of Robert and Mary Wilson, of Scottisli 
nativity, and the parents of a family of 
twelve children, of whom Mrs. Cattermole 
is the only one now living. The marriage 
of Mr. Cattermole and Miss Wilson was 
celebrated in St. Louis. Missouri, and to it 
have come two cliildren: Robert W., who 
received a high-school education in Fort 
Madison, Iowa, having graduated with high 
honors from the local school, and also hav- 
ing been a student at two commercial 
schools, is a young man who displays the 
sterling worth and business ability that were 
so prominently indicated in the father's ca- 
reer. He is now with the Wisconsin Cen- 
tral Railroad, as division engineer, with 
headquarters at Abbotsford, Wisconsin. 
The position he holds is a responsible one, 
but he is proving himself more than equal 
to its varied demands. He was married in 
Fort Madison to Miss Nettie Atlee. a na- 
tive of Memphis, Tennessee. Their only 
child, Charles A., died at the untimely age 
of two years. 

In politics Mr. Cattermole was a Demo- 
crat, l)Ut he never suffered a narrow and 
partisan view of the situation to guide his 
action at the polls. He sought for the best 
men and the wisest measures asking for the 
largest good to all the people, and not simply 
partisan schemes and political advantages. 
In religion he was a believer in the Lord, 
Jesus Christ, and though not a member of 
any church was a devoted attendant and 
liberal supporter of the Episcopal churcli. 
In whatever looked to the uplifting and im- 
provement of the community he was deeply 



interested, and to such measures always 
ready to lend a helping hand. 

Mr. Cattermole died at Arrow Head 
Spring, California, July 31, 1888, whither 
he had gone on account of his health, hav- 
ing recently Ijeen ill with typhoid fever, from 
the effects of which he had not entirely re- 
covered. His remains rest in the old city 
cemetery at Fort Madison. The funeral 
services were held from the Episcopal 
churcli. and were very largely attended by 
those who knew and honored him alike for 
his high character, business ability and 
sterling manhood. It was the general ex- 
pression that in his death the city of Fort 
Madison had lost one of its very best 
friends; and that take him all in all, it 
would lie difficult to find his like again. 

Mrs. Cattermole. his widow, is a most 
charming woman, of pronounced Christian 
character, and of deep interest in all the 
moral and religious organizations of the city. 
After the death of her husband she built 
a lovely home at the corner of Fourth and 
Chestnut streets, in which she was but car- 
rving out his plans, as he had desired to 
build there on his return from California. 



OLIVER D. WALKER, M. D. 

Prof. Oliver D. Walker, engaged in the 
practice of medicine and surgerv^ at Keokuk, 
has attained high standing as a represent- 
ative of the profession because of his excel- 
lent qualifications and his devotion to the 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



'30 



duties which devolve upon him in this con- 
nection. He was born in Emiwria, Kansas, 
December 3, i860, the son of George Mor- 
ton and Zipporah (Maxwell) Walker. His 
father, who was by profession a ci\il en- 
gineer, was born in Western Pennsylvania. 



and 



in early life removed to Washington, 



Iowa. Later he located at the present site 
of Emporia, Kansas, which city he himself 
platted and surveyed. His eldest son. John 
M., was the first white child born in the city. 
George Morton Walker became an extensive 
property holder, and remained at Emporia 
until the beginning of the Civil W'ar, when 
he sent his family back to Iowa, and volun- 
teered for the service of his country. He 
went to the front as a lieutenant in the 
Eleventh Kansas Cavalry, with which he 
served for more than four years. Some 
time after the close of the war he removed 
to Lawrence, Kansas, and there he gave in- 
creased attention to civil engineering, he 
having located and sur\eyed the entire route 
of the }tIissouri, Kansas & Texas Railwa\', 
from Junction City to Dennison, Texas. 
Since then he has given his time exclusively 
to locating and Iniilding railroads, and at 
present he is an engineer for the Kansas City 
Belt Railway, with his home at Kansas City, 
Missouri. The mother of our subject is a 
sister of Dr. Thomas Maxwell, of Keokuk, 
and an account of her genealogy will be 
found in the review of his life which appears 
elsewhere in this volume. 

Dr. Walker made it his first care in life 
to secure a thorough schooling and educa- 
tion, and with that object in view entered 
the University of Kansas at Lawrence. He 
was -graduated from that institution with 



the class of '83, earning the degree of 
Bachelor of Science, and having determined 
to devote himself to the practice of medi- 
cine, began reading soon after in the office 
of Dr. T. J. Maxwell. In 18S4 he matricu- 
lated in the College of Physicians and Sur- 
geons at Keokuk, and was graduated in 
1886. On his graduation he began the prac- 
tice of his profession in Lawrence. Kansas, 
remaining there for a year and a half, then 
locating at Keokuk, where for two years 
he was associated in practice with Dr. Max- 
well. During this period he also acted as 
demonstrator (if anatomv in the College of 
Physicians and Surgeons, for the purpose of 
perfecting his own knowledge of anatomy. 
In 1R89 he was elected to the chair of chem- 
istry in the College of Physicians and Sur- 
geons, I)ut before the beginning of that year's 
session received a government appointment 
in connection with the Indian service as 
physician in charge at Haskell Institute near 
Lawrence. Kansas, and occu]ned that post 
four years. In 1893 he resigned in order 
to associate himself with Dr. Maxwell under 
the firm style of Maxwell & Walker, this 
partnership continuing for four years. Dur- 
ing that lime he was engaged in general 
practice and the practice of surgery, and 
also had charge of the surgical clinic at St. 
Joseph's Hospital at Keokuk. He took a 
post-graduate course in 1894 at New York 
Polyclinic Institute. Since 1897 he has 
been engaged in general practice in Keokuk, 
and gives special attention to nervous dis- 
eases. 

In 1894 Dr. W^alker was elected to the 
chair of physiology and nervous diseases in 
Keokuk Medical College, which he held un- 



^56 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



til the consolidation of tlie t\^■o medical 
schools of Keokuk, and also later in the con- 
solidated school. He was secretary of Keo- 
kuk Medical College and the College of 
Physicians and Surgeons from 1897 till 
1903, when he resigned on finding that there 
was danger of his official duties interfering 
with his private practice. .\t the present 
time he has charge of the neurological clinic 
at St. Joseph's Hospital. 

Dr. Walker is in close touch with all 
progressive tendencies in the work of his 
profession. He is a memher of Keokuk. 
Lee County, Eastern Imva. and Iowa State 
Medical Societies and of the .Vmerican 
Medical Association, and is a memher and 
the secretary of the board of pension exam- 
iners. He also holds a directorship in the 
Lee County Building and Loan .\ssociation. 
Religiously he is a member of the Congre- 
gational church, and was a director and sec- 
retary of the board of directors of the 
Young Men's Christian Association at the 
time of the erection ')f the magnificent 
building now occupied l)y that society. In 
his fraternal affiliations he is a member of 
the Knights of Pythias and the Greek soci- 
ety of BetJ^Theta Pi. 

Professor Walker was united in mar- 
riage to Miss Mary L. Simpson, of Law- 
rence. Kansas, and they have two daughters, 
Genevieve and Margaret. Tlie family home 
is a Ijeautiful residence erected liy the Doc- 
tor at Xo. 528 Morgan street. Doctor 
Walker takes rank as one of the foremost 
practitioners of Lee county. He has con- 
tinually broadened his knowledge of reading 
and original investigation, and few men 



of his profession in this section have made 
more thorough preparation for their task. 
He is well equipped for his work of alleviat- 
ing human suffering. 



WILLIAM H. WYATT. 

William H. Wvatt, trustee of Jackson 
township, Lee county, Iowa, of which he is 
the oldest resident and settler, and now re- 
siding on his farm in section 27, was born 
April 2, 1843, '■'' Fayette county, Ohio, the 
son of Zel)ulon and Elizabeth (Rowe) 
Wyatt. The family is an old one in 
America, and is descended from Governor 
Wyatt, royal governor of Virginia about the 
beginning of the eighteenth centuiy, while 
both grandfathers of Mr. \\"yatt were sol- 
diers in the Revolutionary War, the father 
of Zebulon Wyatt fighting on the side of the ■ 
king and the father of Elizabeth Rowe 
being in the Continental Army. The first 
Wyatt that they have any record of was 
Sir Thomas Wyatt, of England, who was 
Ijorn in 1503. Tlie Rowe family came into 
direct contact with the Indians in the early 
days of the frontier settlements, and an 
uncle of Mr. Wyatt was shot by the savages 
while at work in a cornfield and his heart 
impaled upon a fence picket as an act of 
defiance from his murderers. Zebulon 
Wyatt was a man of considerable distinction 
in Ohio, having served as a captain in the 
Mexican War, and was appointed deputy 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



157 



sheriff and later elected sheriff of Fayette 
county, although he never held office after 
coming to Iowa, with the exception of town- 
ship offices. lie was a man of great force 
of character, and took a lively interest in 
public affairs, always supporting the Re- 
publican ])arty after its formation, until his 
death, wliich occurred in 1872. His wife 
survi\ccl Iiini until 1884, when she passed 
to the world beyond, mourned by all who 
knew her. 

Mr. W'yatt, the subject of this review, 
accompanied his parents to Iowa in 1849, 
when only six years of age, crossing the 
Mississippi river on the ice at Nauvoo, after 
having been within sight of the great Mor- 
mon temple at that place for two days, as 
they made the jnurney o\crlan(l by wagon. 
The fallier rented Iruid near Keokuk, wliich 
he continued to cultivate during the re- 
mainder of his life, and there our subject 
passed the early days of his boyhood, as- 
sisting his father until sixteen years of age, 
when he left home, and was from that time 
employed in the neighborhood of Keokuk 
until 1 86 1, when at the call of duty and 
patriotism he entered the service of his coun- 
try, enlisting in Company A, l-'irst Iowa 
Cavalry, Captain Torrence and Colonel Fitz 
Henry Warren, the regiment forming part 
of the Xinth Army Corps. As a soldier of 
the Union Mr. Wyatt saw long and arduous 
service on Southern fields, as will be shown 
by the following, which is a partial list of 
his battles : Booneville, Jefferson City, Black- 
water, Silver Creek, Lone Jack and Spring- 
field, Missouri: Prairie Grove, Bentonville, 
Little Rock, Biameter, Poison Springs and 

Camden, Arkansas. In addition he served 
10 



in the states of Florida, Louisiana, Texas, 
Mississippi. Kentucky and Tennes.see, and 
during the Red River Expedition under 
Gen. A. V. Steele he was wounded in the 
right temple Iiy a flying splinter shot from 
a tree b}- a cannon ball, being rendered for 
a long time unconscious by the blow. From 
the effects of this wound he apparently re- 
covered completely, liut a stroke of paralysis 
by which he was visited in the year 1S86 
was attributed to the shock which his sys- 
tem received at that time. lie was mus- 
tered out on March 16, 1866, and as he 
enlisted on June 13. 1861, he was thus a 
member of the army during the long period 
of four years, nine months and three days, 
during all of which he was actively engaged 
in the field, for the first year as a corporal 
and for the latter three and three-fourth 
years as commissary sergeant. 

At the close of hostilities Air. Wyatt re- 
turned to farming as an occupation, con- 
ducting agricultural operations for the first 
two years in Clark county, Missouri, after 
which he removed to his present residence 
in Lee county, where he has since lived, and 
here he has been highly successful as a 
farmer, acquiring by careful management 
and the exercise of sound, conservative judg- 
ment I TO acres of verj' productive farming 
l.uids, of whicli thirty-five acres, on which 
stands liis residence, is located in section 
27, and seventy-five acres on .section 32 in 
the Des Moines river bottoms. 

The marriage of Mr. Wyatt took place 
.it Keokuk in 1873, ^^ which time he was 
united in holy matrimony with Miss Caro- 
line Loomis, a native of Lee county, the 
date of her birth being .\pril 17, 1849. Mrs. 



158 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



Wyatt was descended from an old English 
family which came to America in 1639 ^'^^ 
settled in Windsor, Connecticut, and she 
was a woman in whose character appeared 
many of the virtues of those early Pilgrims-, 
discharging with ahility the duties of her 
household and being tenderly faithful to all 
domestic and friendly ties until her death. 
which occurred on September 16, 1889. To 
Mr. and Mrs. Wyatt were born two .sons 
and four daughters, as follows; John L., 
a resident of Keokuk, who married Miss 
Ida O'Blenness and has one child, Mildred; 
William H., Jr., residing on a farm in Jack- 
son township, who married Miss Lena 
Haisch ; Carrie I. ; Laura Loomis ; Alice 
Rowe. and May Loomis, and all are at home. 
The members of this family are the only rep- 
resentatives of the name in Lee county, but 
Mr. Wyatt has one brother, Thomas C, and 
a sister, Margaret M. Brinkle_v, who are 
residents of Winchester, Ohio. 

Mr. Wyatt holds membership in Tor- 
rence Post, Grand Army of the Republic, 
Keokuk, and has attended the national en- 
campments of the order at Columbus, Ohio, 
and St. Louis, Missouri, the state encamp- 
ments at Des ]\Toines, Dubuque and Daven- 
port, as well as the reunions of his regiment 
at Cedar Rapids, Dubuque, Davenport, Ot- 
tumwa and Keokuk. Lie has given much 
attention to advancing the prosperity of the 
community in which his useful career has 
been passed, as well as to all matters of 
public interest, and it was mainly owing to 
his efforts, in association with Mr. Fred 
Lindner, which brought about in 1903 the 
establishment of tlie rural delivery route 
No. I, which now serves the residents 



of this neighborhood so efficiently. He has 
been a loyal and zealous supporter of the Re- 
publican party ever since casting his first 
ballot for Abraham Lincoln when a member 
of the United States Army and stationed at 
Little Rock, Arkansas, and for eight years 
he served his party as chairman of its town- 
ship committee, although he refused for per- 
sonal reasons to continue in the position be- 
yond that period. For an unbroken term of 
seventeen years he acted as road supervisor, 
during which time the highways of the 
township were maintained in a uniformly 
excellent state of repair under his direction, 
and at present he occupies the highest ofifice 
in the gift of his township, that of trustee, 
in which his business ability is of conspicu- 
ous advantage to his constituents. 



AUGUSTUS SCHERFE. 

Augustus Scherfe, after a very active 
business career, crowned by successful ac- 
complishment, is now living retired at his 
pleasant home in Fort Madison. He was 
lx)rn in Hartzfeld, Germany, on the 14th of 
December, 1843, and when about a year old 
was brought to the United States by his 
parents, Augustus and Wilhelmina (Luer) 
Scherfe. They c^me at once to Iowa, locat- 
ing at Fort Madison, where Mr. Scherfe 
followed the ocaipation of butchering, con- 
tinuing in that business for a number of 
years, after which he engaged in weaving. 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



159 



having learned the trade prior to his emi- 
gration to the new world. Thus his time 
was occupied until his death, which oc- 
curred at Fort Madison, when he was fifty- 
two years of age. He died in 1856 and his 
remains were interred in the Fort Madison 
cemetery. He was a member of the Ger- 
m.'in Lullieran church, as was his wife, who 
survived him until 1882, passing away at 
the advanced age of eighty-four years, her 
remains licing then buried l)y her husband's 
side. They were the parents of two cliil- 
dren : Minnie became the wife of Nich- 
olas DeKlntz, and after her husband's death 
she died at Portland, Oregon, at the age of 
sixty-one years, leaving a family of four 
daughters and one son. 

-Augustus Scherfe acquired his early ed- 
ucation in the German Lutheran schools of 
Fort Madison, and as soon as old enough, 
after the death of his father, he assisted 
upon the home place and engaged in gar- 
dening. In 1861, when he was seventeen 
years of age, he enlisted in Company F, 
Fifth Iowa Cavalry and serA^ed during the 
war. He took part in some of the principal 
battles of Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia, 
and was honorably discharged at Clinton, 
Iowa, in 1865. He was corporal of his 
company and was always found at his post, 
displaying much valor in times of danger. 
Since the war he has maintained pleasant 
relations with his old army comrades 
through his membership in James B. Sam- 
ple Post, No. 170, Grand Army of the Re- 
public, of Fort Madison, of which he has 
twice been commander while for a number 
of years he has occujiied the position of 
adjutant. 



After receiving his discharge from the 
army Mr. Scherfe returned to his home at 
Fort Madison and was appointed a guard 
at the Iowa penitentiary, sennng in that ca- 
]-)acity for two years when his health failed 
and he gave up the position. He then re- 
moved to Burlington, Iowa, where he lived 
for nine years, acting as shipping clerk in a 
grocery house. He next removed to Lin- 
coln, Nebraska, where he spent two years 
and then returned to Fort Madison, where he 
again l)ccanie guard in the penitentiary, 
thus serving for thirteen years. On the ex- 
piration of that period he was appointed by 
the government, in 1S90, to the position of 
census enumerator at Fort Madison, and 
after the completion of this task illness pre- 
vented his further work for a period of eight 
months. He then engaged in the fire insur- 
ance business to which he devoted his time 
and energies until 1899. when he retired 
from active life on account of ill health and 
the business established by him is now con- 
ducted by his son, William A. Scherfe, who 
is represented elsewhere in this volume. He 
has since been leading a quiet life. 

Mr. Scherfe is a member of the German 
Lutheran Evangelical church of Fort Madi- 
son and was one of its trustees for a num- 
ber of years. In politics he is a Republican, 
and he has always been deeply interested in 
(lie welfare of his country and the substan- 
tial upbuilding of his city. 

On the 28th of April, 1866, Mr. Scherfe 
'was united in marriage to Miss Amelia 
Sprenger, who was born in Odessa, Russia, 
and came to this country when five years of 
age with her parents, who located at Bur- 
lington, Iowa, where thev lived and died. 



i6o 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



Her father, George W. Sprenger, was a 
painter by trade and followed carriage paint- 
ing and trimming. He died at the age of 
seventy-four years, while his wife, who bore 
the maiden name of Magdalene D. Faul 
died in Burlington, Iowa, May 8, 1895, at 
the age of seventy-nine years. L nto Mr. and 
Mrs. Sclierfe have been born three children, 
and the family circle yet remains unbroken 
by the hand of death. The eldest, William 
A., is mentioned elsewhere in this volume. 
Amelia A. is the wife of Fred A. H. Soech- 
tig, a retail grocer of Fort ]Madison. Ma- 
tilda is the widow of Victor R. Egermayer, 
late of Tacoma, Washington, and she now 
makes her home in Fort Madison with her 
jjarents. The family home is at No. 214 
Third street and its hospitality is enjoyed 
bv their manv friends. 



ALVIN C. MORRIS. 



Of the more successful and better known 
farmers of Lee county, a worthy representa- 
tive is Alvin C. Morris, now residing on his 
farm of 201 acres in Cedar township. Mr. 
Morris was born September 28. 1861, in 
Cedar township. Van Buren county, Iowa, 
the son of George F. and Matilda (Ebert) 
Morris. The family is a very old one in 
Iowa, the father of Mr. Morris having come^ 
to Lee county with his parents in 1836 and 
located at Sugar Creek, where he remained, 
however, only a short time before removing 
to Van Buren county. Cedar township, at 



which latter place he received his education, 
grew to manhood and passed his life as a 
farmer. He was quite successful in a pe- 
cuniary way, and at his death in 1894 at the 
age of sixty-two years he owned 160 acres 
of well-impro\ed farming land. He was a 
member of the Methodist Episcopal church, 
was very public-spirited, taking part in po- 
litical affairs as a worker in the Republican 
party, and held a number of public offices. 
He was a native of Kentucky, as was also 
his father, the grandfather of our subject, 
who was Henry T. Morris, 'llie latter pur- 
chased land in Van Buren county in 1836, 
and there spent the remainder of his life, 
his death occurring in his eighty-sixth year. 
The mother of Alvin C. Morris was born in 
Pennsylvania, came to Iowa as a small child, 
and passed practically the whole of her life 
as a resident of Van Buren county, her de- 
mise occurring about six years before that 
of her husband. She was the mother of ten 
sons and daughters, all of whom are still 
living. 

Mr. Morris gained his early knowledge 
of books in the public schools of his native 
county, receiving a good common-schcTol ed- 
ucation, and learned the principles and meth- 
ods of agriculture in his father's farm, as- 
sisting in the work until his marriage No- 
vember 15, 1888, to Miss Lenora Jordan, a 
native of Cedar township. Van Buren 
county, and daughter of Johnson Jordan. 
Mrs. Morris's father was a pioneer of \'an 
Buren county, but died at the age of only 
twenty-five years, leaving the care of the 
family of two girls to his wife, who still re- 
sides in Van Buren county. She again mar- 
ried after seven vears of widowhood to Mr. 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



i6i 



Benjamin Syferd. The other daughter was 
Eliza Jane, now Mrs. J. W. Sheplierd, of 
Van Bnren county. Iowa. To Mr. and Mrs. 
Morris liave iieen burn four sons and one 
daugliter, the birthplace of the eldest being 
Van Buren county and that of the remain- 
ing four Cedar township, Lee county. They 
are: Rex, Everett, Mary, Leo and Alva. 

For two years succeeding his marriage 
Mr. Morris cuntinued a resident of his fa- 
ther's farm, but at the end of that period 
he removed to Lee county, purchasing and 
locating upon the farm he now owns and 
occupies, which, bv the application of en- 
ergy, perseverance and sound judgment he 
has greatly improved, introducing scientific 
methods and apparatus and making it in 
many respects a model farm, considered 
either with regard to appearance, conve- 
nience or producing power. Here he en- 
gages in general farming and stockraising, 
making a specialt}-. in the latter branch of 
the business, of the raising of Durham 
cattle. 

'Mr. Morris, as an extensive reader, care- 
ful thinker and active business nr.n, has 
manifested considerable interest in public 
affairs, and believing in the duty of ex'ery 
citizen to exercise his political privileges ac- 
cordir.g to his best understanding of his 
own needs and those of the county, state 
and nation, early united with the Republican 
party, in which he has ever since been a 
worker. Although lie has not aspired to 
the holding of public office, he lias served his 
community as director of the public schools 
for a number of years, and last election he 
was honored by his fellow citizens who gave 
him the highest township office within their 



power — that of township trustee, and. in- 
ileed, lie has always shown himself ready to 
accept any duty or to support any move- 
ment calculateil to advance the general wel- 
fare, and this readiness is usually held to 
indicate the possession of qualities of high 
civic value. Fraternally he is well known, 
being a member of Ijoth the Masonic order 
and that of the Modern Woodmen of Amer- 
ica. He is a man of unusual force of charac- 
ter, is possessed of much business ability, 
has been very successful in the conduct of 
his affairs, and enjoys the universal respect 
of his friends and acquaintances. 



F. W. ANSCHUTZ. 



Among the sons of the Fatherland who 
came to .America and won success and prom- 
inence in business and at the same time were 
recognized as valued and worthy citizens 
of the communities in which they lived was 
numbered F. W. Anschutz, who was t)om 
in (icrmany. Afay 28. 1835, and died in 
Keokuk on the ist of April. 1889. He pos- 
sessed great energy, strong determination 
and laudable ambition and in the years of an 
active business career he worked his way 
steadily upward contributing to public prog- 
ress as well as individual prosperity. His 
father was in comfortalile financial circum- 
stances and pro\ided him good educational 
privileges. Ho purs\icd a commercial course 
of study in his native land, and afterward 
was apprenticed to a merchant. Subse- 



1 62 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



quently he entered his father's factory, saw- 
mills and smelters, but not finding these 
lines of business congenial he was sent to 
America that he might enjoy the business 
opportunities of the new world. He came 
to America in 1847, locating first in Wis- 
consin and while' there he learned the brew- 
ing trade. In 1852 he was married in Sauk 
City, Wisconsin, to Miss Augusta R. Die- 
mar, who w;is born in Germany on the 19th 
of September, 1830. Following his mar- 
riage he engaged in farming for two years 
and then removed to Madison, Wisconsin, 
where he conducted a gim store. In 1858 
he removed to Keokuk and established a 
brewery. He had great faith and energy in 
the new city and displayed a brave spirit 
and many of the qualities of a pioneer about 
entering the first and building a brewery in 
a new and almost undeveloped district. 
Everything had to be hauled by team and 
much work was required in the establish- 
ment of the brewery, but in course of time 
it became a paying investment and he con- 
tinued to operate it successfully until 188 1, 
when it was destroyed by fire, entailing a 
loss of $30,000. He never rebuilt the plant. 
Up to that time he had a large annual out- 
put, shipping much of his product. He 
emplo}'cd a foreman and five or six other 
men about the place and developed his busi- 
ness in accordance with modern ideas, mak- 
ing the enterprise an excellent source of 
income. In 1881 he also suffered loss by fire, 
the interior of his home being badly dam- 
aged in that way. This house was erected 
by Mr. Anschutz in 1870 at the foot of An- 
schutz hill and the fire was caused by a 
spark fnini the furnace which ignited the 
roof. 



Unto Mr. and Mrs. Anschutz were born 
five children : Adelaide, the wife of George 
Hassell, of the Keokuk Medicine Company, 
of Keokuk, Iowa, by whom she has two 
children, George and Melvina ; Henry ; Otto, 
an engineer at tlie middle lock, who mai- 
ried Susie Celtner and has two children, 
Mildred and Felix ; Leo, at h(^me : and Her- 
man, a phntographer. of Keokuk, who mar- 
ried Grace Smith and has one daughter, 
Adelaide. In 1858 the family home was 
established at its present location at the foor 
of Anschutz hill. It was through the ef- 
forts of Mr. Anschutz that the road along 
the hillside was opened up and it has since 
been known as Anschutz road. The hill- 
side was covered with timber and it was 
a great luidertaking and in the project Mr. 
Anschutz met with much opposition, but 
he persevered and the value of the road to 
this district of the city has long since been 
acknowledged. It now affords the main en- 
trance to Keokuk from the north or upriver 
country. Toward its construction Mr. An- 
schutz gave $100 and a months' work with 
his team. He also raised the money for 
the construction of the road by solicitation 
of others and though he was strongly op- 
posed he continued in the work and in due 
course of time his labors were crowned with 
success. .\n excellent bust of Mr. Anschutz 
adorns the family home, it being made by 
the youngest son. Herman .Anschutz. t'le 
photographer. In his political views Mr. 
Anschutz was a Democrat, and he served 
as clerk on the registration board. He pos- 
sessed the strong sturdy Gcnnan spirit, with 
its admirable national characteristics, was 
found reliable in business, progressive in his 
ideas and at all times readv to aid in the 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



163 



promotion of the welfare of the city. His 
co-operation could always be counted upon 
in support of any measure for the general 
good, and his pleasant genial manner made 
him well liked by all and caused his death 
to be deeply deplored. His widow still oc- 
cupies the old home, having lived at this 
place since 1858, while the home was built in 
1870. She takes great interest in church 
work and is a lady of many excellent traits 
of character of heart and mind. 



ISAAC W. TRAVERSE, M. D. 

A prominent and successful representa- 
tive of the medical profession in Fort Madi- 
son is Dr. I. W. Traverse, who was born on 
a farm near Nauvoo, Illinois, October 22, 
1871. He is the son of W. F. and Emily 
(Wilsey) Traverse. The father died Oc- 
tober 4. 1901, and at the close of his career 
he was possessed of a very considerable es- 
tate, comprising over 400 acres of land, as 
the result of a life which combined energy, 
carefulness and extraordinary ability. The 
death of his wife preceded his by a period 
of several years, having occurred in June, 
1878. They were the parents of four chil- 
dren, as follows : John, now deceased ; Wil- 
liam, who resides at the old home farm ; 
Isaac W., the subject of this sketch ; and 
Jean, wife of Curt Silberschmidt, secretan,' 
and treasurer of the tannery and shoe fac- 
tor}- at Santa Rosa, California. 

The education of I. W. Traverse was 
begun in the public schools, but the ambi- 



tion which led to his subsequent rise to a 
high and useful plane of activity has been 
a factor in his life since his earliest years; 
and in 1890 he became a student in Keo- 
kuk Medical College, determined to fit him- 
self, by hard study and intense application, 
for the work of a physician. He was grad- 
uated from that institution March 7. 1893, 
immediately established himself in the prac- 
tice of medicine in this city, and, with the 
exception of a temporary location at Wapello 
during the first year, has since been en- 
gaged continuously in the work of his pro- 
fession in Fort Madison. If success is a 
criterion of ability, his i;ipiil rise to his 
present position in the community would 
seem to indicate talents oi a rare order. 

Dr. Traverse devotes himself to general 
practice and to surgery, but makes a spe- 
cialty of gynecology, and in all his work 
makes extensive use of the X-Ray apparatus. 
He acts as examining physician for the 
Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, of 
New York, the Union Mutual Life Insur- 
ance Company, of Portland, Maine, and for 
a number of beneficiarj' orders. In his fra- 
ternal connection he is a member of Clay- 
poole Lodge, No. 13. Free and Accepted 
Masons, and in the same order has taken the 
degrees of the Royal Arch and Kn'ghts 
Templar, and <>f Kaaba Temple Mystic 
Shrine. He is also affiliated with Benevolent 
and Protective Order of Elks. No. 374, 
Modern Woodmen of America. No. 641. 
the Mulu;il Protective League and the 
Knights and Ladies of Security. He is a 
member of Lee County Medical Society, and 
has held the official position of physician to 
the iMirt M;idison Board of Health. In 
politics he is a believer in the principles ad- 



164 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



vocated by the Democratic party, and con- 
sistently supports its nominees. 

At Fort Madison December 19, 1891, 
Dr. I. W. Traverse was vmited in marriage 
with Miss Daisy L. Ehart. One child 
graces this union, a son, John William, born 
December 29, 1892. ]\Irs. Traverse is the 
daughter of Phillip and Sarah (Jarrett) 
Ehart. Phillip Ehart, who was by trade a 
wagonmaker, was born in Germany, and his 
death occurred July 30, 1876, intennent be- 
ing in the Fort Madison city cemetery. Mrs. 
Ehart, who is a native of North Carolina, 
makes her home with Dr. and Mrs. Traverse. 
The grandmother, Mrs. Fanny Jarrett, who 
is in the nin'ety-seventh year of her age. is 
a resident of West Point. Lee county. Mr. 
and Mrs. Ehart were the parents of three 
children, the others being John, who is an 
express agent at Fort Madison, and Maggie, 
wife of Frank Swanson, foreman in the 
Santa Fe railroad shops at this place. 

Mrs. Traverse is a member of the Pres- 
byterian church and of its missionary so- 
ciety, in which she is an active worker. She 
was graduated from the Fort Madison high 
school in the class of 1891, and has been 
a teacher in the schools of W^est Point and 
Fort Madison. 

At a cost of $7,000 Dr. Traverse erected 
in 1901, a commodious and handsome res- 
idence at 907 Fifth street, and here he de- 
votes to his home life the time which may be 
spared from the exacting demands of public 
and ])n)fessional duty. He is a man of at- 
tractive personality, and in his technical 
equi]>ment very thorough. W'e bespeak for 
him an increasing measure of the popular 
favor. 



VALENTINE J. KREHBIEL. 

One of the prominent younger farmers 
of I-'ranklin township, where he owns 215 
acres of farm lands, as also seventy-five 
acres in Harrison township, is Valentine J. 
Ivrehbiel. He was born on a farm adjoin- 
ing that on which he now resides .September 
16, 1862, the son of Christian and ]^Iar}- 
(Schnebele) Krehbiel, both natives of Ger- 
many. Their portraits appear upon opposite 
page. The father was a man of enterpris- 
ing spirit, and came to America in 1850. at 
aliout twenty years of age, locating in Ohio. 
The following year, 1851, he came west and 
located in Franklin township. Lee county. 
Iowa. His future wife came to the town- 
shij) about the same time, with her parents. 
Here he took employment as a farm hand, 
in which he continued for abovit five years, 
when he married, and having saved his 
earnings, was able to purchase a farm. This 
consisted of eighty acres of unimproved 
land, upon which stood a log house. This 
tract he cleared and made it productive, oc- 
casionally adding to it by further purchases, 
until finally he was the owner of 415 acres 
in this township, besides a great deal of 
land in Kansas and forty-five acres in Har- 
rison township. Pie was a self-made man, 
and by his own efforts came to be one of 
the most successful farmers in this section of 
the county. He was also an important factor 
in the township's affairs, and was for a 
number of terms trustee of the township. 
He was a lifelong Democrat, and often 
ser\ed the party in county conventions. His 
death occurred in 1899. and that of his 
widow in 1902. Both were early members 



> 

X 



n 

X 



H 
> 




LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



167 



of the Meiiiirtiiite cliuvcli. and lielped in the 
building of the lirst churcli eihhce for that 
denomination in Lee county. Tlie father 
was for nnny years speaker of tlie churcli. 
\'alentine J. Krehhiel, the suhject of this 
review, received his education in the schools 
of his township, and during his early years 
was his father's assistant on the farm. He 
continued in this work until the time nf his 
marriage. April 27, 1890, to Miss Christina 
Hirschler. of Franklin township, when he 
purchased eighty acres where he at present 
resides, and there hegan his active l)usiness 
life as a farmer. That he has succeeded is 
evidenced by the fact that he now owns a 
fine home, witii a farm of 215 acres, together 
with seventy-five acres in Harrison town- 
ship, and also conducts a very extensive 
live-stock business, shipping in carload lots. 
He is engaged, largely in general farming, 
but makes stockraising and dealing his 
specialty. Mr. Krehhiel, besides his private 
business, takes a prominent part in town- 
ship affairs, acting politically with the Dem- 
ocratic parly. He was elected trustee of his 
township in 1899, and was honored l)v re- 
election in 1902, being the present incumbent 
of that office. He is a man of unusual a!)il- 
ity. and has ])erformed the duties of his of- 
fice in a highly efficient and satisfactory 
manner. The family occupies a large and 
handsiinie residence, which Mr. Krehhiel re- 
modeled and impr'ued a few years ago. To 
Mr. and Mrs. Krehhiel h ive been horn two 
sons and five daughters, as follows: Delia. 
Ruth. Leona, Carl, Hulda. Bertha and 
Adnlph. Mr. and Mrs. Krehhiel are b'lth 
acti\e members of the MenuDuite church, of 
Franklin townshi]), and teachers in the Sun- 



day school. Mr. Krehhiel is posses.sed of a 
genial and generous disposition, which, to- 
gether with the reputation he enjoys for 

strict uprightness and integrity in all his 
dealings, has won for him the friendship of 
man}- and the respect of all who kmiw him. 



WILLIAM A. SCHERFE. 

William A. Scherfe, a native son ot 
Fort Madison, was born July 24, 1867, his 
parents being Augustus and Amelia Scherfe. 
He has continuously resided in this city, 
save for a lirief period spent in the city of 
Burlington. His 'early education was ob- 
tained in the schools of this city, but when 
twelve years of age he put aside his text- 
books and began working as a deliver}'^ clerk 
in a grocery- store. He was afterward a 
salesman in a hardware store for Joseph 
Fhart & Son, of h'ort Madison, with whom 
he continued for two years, and then at the 
age of eighteen he became an aii])rentice in 
a machine shop, where he remained for four 
vears. thoroughly mastering the trade. 
When twenty-two years of age he became 
a locomotive fireman on the Chicago. Fort 
Madison & Des Moines Railroad and at the 
age of twenty-six he met with an accident 
that incapacitated him for manual labor. In 
T894 he entered the insurance business with 
his father and this relation was continued 
until i8()0. when the father retired and Wil- 
liam A. Scherfe has since remained in the 
business alone. He does a general insurance 



1 68 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



business, which extends throughout Lee 
county and he is also assistant special agent 
for the German American Fire Insurance 
Company of New York. He is also buying 
and selling' real estate and has seaired a 
good clientage in both departments of his 
business. 

Mr. Scherfe was married, on the i6th of 
June, 1892, to Miss Mary A. Young, a na- 
tive of Cincinnati. Ohio, born December 13. 
1870, a daughter of Jacob Young, a harness- 
maker of Troy. Iowa. In 1894 Mr, Scherfe 
was elected secretary of the independent 
school district of Fort Madison and still 
holds that position. He is a member of 
Fort Madison Lodge, No. 374, Benevolent 
and Protective Order of Elks, and belongs 
to the Presbyterian church, while in his po- 
litical faith he is a Republican. One of the 
enterprising young business men of the city, 
he has gained well-merited success and the 
methods he has pursued are such as have 
won for him high regard and confidence. 
Dependent upon his own resources from an 
early age his history stands in evidence of 
what can be accomplished by strong and hon- 
orable purpose. 



GEORGE W. SMITH. 



George \\'. Smith, editor of the \\'est 
Point Bee. of West Point. Lee county, Iowa, 
was born at Waterloo, Illinois, February 10. 
1858. the son of George and Caroline 
Smith. He received his education in the 



common schools of St. Louis, having re- 
moved to that city in his early childhood. He 
remained a resident of St. Louis until 1871, 
during which time he learned the printing 
trade, which as a young man he followed 
for a number of years. After 1871 he 
worked at his trade in all the principal cities 
of the United States, his longest connec- 
tion with any one publication being that 
with the Chicago Herald, which covered a 
period of fifteen years. 

In 1894, ]Mr. Smith located in West 
Point, purchasing the Bee. a Democratic 
paper which had been established in 1892. 
At the time of the purchase the publication 
had but a small circulation, but under the 
thoughtful and enterprising management of 
]\Ir. Smith has greatly improved in charac- 
ter and appearance, and now enjoys a cir- 
culation of more than one thousand copies 
per week, a remarkable achievement. This 
is the only newspaper in the northwestern 
part of the county, where it occupies a pe- 
culiarly influential position. Mechanically 
it is of a high grade of excellence, and con- 
sists of four pages of well-written articles of 
local and general interest. 

In 1887 Mr. Smith was married to Miss 
Kate R. Carroll, a native of Chicago, and 
to them have been born two daughters. Er- 
nestine and Consuelo. 

Mr. Smith is at the present time director 
of the public school, and a new and modern 
brick building has been erected for the ac- 
commodation of the schools. He has no 
other outside interests, however, and devotes 
all his time to the newspaper, including job 
printing, and in this enterprise has met with 
financial and professional success of ver\' 



LEE COUNTY. IOWA. 



169 



gratifying proportions. He is well known 
throughout Lee county, and his force of 
character and genial temperament have made 
him universally popular. 



REUBEN CREPS. 



One of the most public-spirited citizens 
of Fort Madison is Reuben Creps, who has 
Ijeen a resident of this city and activelv con- 
nected with its growth and development for 
a great many years. Mr. Creps was bom 
in Dixon township, Cumberland county, 
Pennsyh'ania, September 22, 1822. and 
there grew to years of maturity. In 1845 
he made a trip to the West, going to Burling- 
ton, this state. After a year spent there he 
returned to his home in Pennsylvania, where 
he remained until 1851. He then came to 
Iowa a second time, arriving at Fort Madi- 
son June 21, 1 85 1, and here be has made 
his home ever since. 

Mr. Creps received a good education in 
the public schools at the place of his birth, 
and for several years was a teacher in that 
state. In Pennsylvania he also learned the 
carpenter's trade, which he was destined to 
follow for the greater part of his active 
life, anrl as carpenter and contractor he has 
been connected with the construction of 
nearly all the principal buildings, public and 
private, of Fort Madisf)n, among which are 
the state penitentiary at this place, the Epis- 
copal church, the court house, the jail and 
the city power house. He also attained 



some reputation as a millwright, and was 
connected with the building of the McConn 
mills and most of the other larger mills in 
this section. During the last six years he 
has been leading a retired life at his pleas- 
ant home at the corner of Fifth and Chest- 
nut streets. He doubtless owes much of his 
success to the fact that he early had a rigid 
inu'niiig in the school of hard work and 
business management. Born on a farm, he 
was his father's assistant until the latter's 
death, when he assumed the management of 
the farm, which he continued until he came 
west. 

I\Ir. Creps was married in Pennsylvania 
to Miss Catherine Mower, who was born in 
Germany and came to the United States in 
her girlhood. She died, leaving one son 
and line (laughter. The daughter is now de- 
ceased. The son, La Fayette, is a resident 
of Idaho, where he is engaged in the lum- 
ber business, and has achieved very consid- 
erable success. The wife and mother is 
burieil at Fort Madison, her death having oc- 
curred in this city. 

Our subject is a son of David and Eliza- 
beth (Clippinger) Creps. His father was 
during his early life a farmer .'uid for some 
time engaged in the mercantile business, but 
later returned to the farm. 

Mr. Creps was originally a member of 
the Democratic party, but has since assumed 
ail independent position in politics. In his 
religious connection he is affiliated with tiie 
Methodist Episcopal church, of which he 
has been a member ever since arriving in 
Fort Madison, and of which he has served 
as trustee fur many years. He has been ac- 
tive in good works, and was one of tliose 



170 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



>\ho organized, in about the year 185 1, the 
first Sunday school formed in Fort Madi- 
son. Tiiroughnut tlie course of a long res- 
idence here he has been witness of all the 
more important steps in advance taken by 
his adopted city, and has borne his full share 
in securing for Fort Madison the enviable 
position wliich it now occupies. He has been 
an advocate of improvement, and has al- 
ways taken an interest in everything calcu- 
lated to forward the real welfare of the com- 
munity in wliich he lives. Bv his character 
of integrity and strict justice in his deal- 
ings he has won the general respect, and his 
capacity for friendship has brought him into 
close relations with many who prize his 
acquaintance. 

Mr. Creps again married, his second wife 
being Mrs. Lizzie Bock, on the 29th of April, 
1890, his first wife having died in 1884. She 
was born in Fort Madison, a daughter of 
Henry and Elsie (Meier) Bock, both of 
whom were born in Germany, and came to 
Fort Madison about 185 1. 

Here Mrs. Creps grew up and has spent 
her life here, and is well-known. 



FRANK TROJA. 



One of the prominent and well-known 
agriculturalists of Lee county is Frank 
Troja, wild resides just outside the corpo- 
rate limits of the City of Fort Madison. Mr. 
Troja was born in Germany, November 20, 
1835, there he was reared on a farm, ac- 



quiring in youth the habits of industry and 
frugality which made him successful in after 
life, and at the age of twenty-nine years 
came, in com])any with his brother Joseph, 
to America. 

Locating in Fort Madison, the first year 
was spent in the work of a brick yard, at 
the end of which time he took employment 
in the .\tlee sawmill. Here he remained 
continuously for seventeen A-ears. Three 
}'ears he was in the employ of his brothers, 
Joseph and John, who conducted an tgg 
liusiness in Fort ^Madison. 

In 1886 he took up his present location, 
bu}ing a tract of seventy-two acres of tim- 
ber land just outside the city limits of Fort 
Madison. Twenty acres of this farm he has 
cleared and placed under cultivation, and 
here also he has built a comfortable and 
commodious home, and is now enjoying the 
fruits of a life of labor and continuous and 
conscientious toil. The farm is considered 
a \-alualile piece of property. 

In 1865 Mr. Troja was married at Fort 
Madison to Miss Lizzie Putmeyer, who was 
born in Germany and came to America in 
the party of whicli Mr. Troja was a mem- 
ber. I^ntri them have been liorn eight sons 
and daughters, of whom six still live luider 
the parental roof. They are as follows : 
Joseph, born August 15, 1869; John, b(^rn 
December 11, 1872: Benjamin, born March 
4, 1876: George, born October 27, 1877, 
married Margarette Lackery ; Lizzie, born 
September 25, 1879.: Katie, Mrs. George 
Larkey, of Madison, born Septcnilier ifi. 
1882: Annie, born January 15, 1870, wife 
of Barney Heiling, of Fort Madison: and 
Maggie, born November 10, 1874. wife of 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



171 



Frank Heiling, of Fort Madison. All the 
children were educated in Saint Mar>''s 
Parochial School. 

Mr. Troja is a member of Saint Mary's 
Catholic church, and in politics he early de- 
cided, after a careful study of political ques- 
tions in the United States, to associate him- 
self with the Democratic party. In his re- 
ligious duties he has been active, having 
assisted in the building of Saint Mary's 
church, taking part in the labor of construc- 
tion. Although now in his sixty-ninth year, 
he still assists in the work of the farm, and 
does some gardening. su])plying garden 
truck, small fruits and milk to a number of 
city customers. 

Frank Troja is the second of a family 
of eight children, of win mi the only other 
survi\'ors are Joseph, of I'ort Mac'ison, and 
Barney, who still lives in Germany. He is 
a self-made man, owing his success entirely 
to his own efforts ; and his integrity, strong 
character and genial disposition have won 
for him manv admirers and friends. 



GEORGE E. ROGERS. 



An enterprising citizen and agricultur- 
ist of Green Bay township is George E. 
Rogers, residing on section 16. He was 
born in a log cabin located on section 15, of 
this township, October 7, 1S58, son of Mil- 
ward H. and Susan Rogers, an account of 
whose lives and genealogies appears else- 
where in this volume. He acquired his early 



education and early knowledge of books in 
the i)ublic schools of his district, and grew 
to manhood in the acquirement of useful 
training as an assistant to his father. In 
fact, this training began very early. When 
only eleven years of age he was impressed 
into the hard service of caring for the year's 
harvest, his one elder brother having suf- 
fered from sunstroke. It is to such duties 
well and courageously performed, however, 
that many a man, like Mr. Rogers, has been 
al)le to trace his success in after life, and 
often what appears to many as mere good 
fortune is the result of years of training in 
the school of experience. 

Mr. Rogers made his home Ijeneath the 
paternal roof until the year 1880, when he 
was united in marriage with Miss Cordelia 
May Vogt, daughter of Samuel H. and Eliz- 
abeth (McGregor) Vogt. The father of 
Mrs. Rogers was a native of Switzerland, 
and emigrated to America when seventeen 
years of age, making the voyage by sailing 
vessel and taking twenty-three days to cross 
the ocean. He located at Nauvoo, Illinois, 
and was there married before the Civil War. 
At the beginning of the war he enlisted in 
the Sevent'eenth Iowa Volunteer Infantry, 
serving his country as a soldier for the long 
period of three years and four months, four 
months of which were spent as a prisoner of 
war, and was for a time detained in the 
famous Andersonville prison. He removed 
some time after his marriage to Montrose 
township, Lee county, and in 1880 again re- 
moved, taking up his residence in Green Bay 
township, where he bought a small farm in 
the southeast corner of section 15. There 
he died December 5, 1899, at the age of 



172 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



sixty -five years and twenty-seven days. 
Mrs. Vogt was a native of Coshocton 
county, Ohio. She died February 22, 1903, 
aged seventy-one years, five months and 
twenty-one days. The remains of both rest 
in Beebe cemetery, this township. They 
were active and vahied members of the 
Christian church, and were universally es- 
teemed and respected. To them were born 
four children, of whom Mrs. Rogers is tlie 
only survivor. 

Mr. and Mrs. Rogers are the parents of 
six sons and daughters, two of whom died 
in infancy. Those living are: Roy V., 
Cora E., Frank K. and Charles Bruce. The 
sons remain at home, and the daughter is 
the wife of William Sweeney and resides 
at Macomb, Illinois. 

Mr. Rogers owns 185 acres of fine farm- 
ing land, on which he conducts general 
farming operations and the usual amount of 
stockraising. Here he has built a beautiful 
dwelling in the midst of fine grounds orna- 
mented with shade trees, and has erected 
other buildings to meet the necessities and 
provide the conveniences of modern farm 
life, installing many improvements which 
combine the advantages of city and coun- 
try. He supports the Christian church, of 
which Mrs. Rogers is a member, and in his 
political views is a Democrat, believing the 
policies to which that party stands pledged 
to be in accord with the fundamental prin- 
ciples of .\merican government. Fraternally 
he has membership relations with the Inde- 
pendent Order of Odd Fellows, being Past 
Grand of the Wever Lodge and having 
served as representative to the Grand Lodge ; 
is a member of the Knights of Pythias at 



Wever and holds in that order the rank 
of Past Grand Deputy ; and is a member of 
the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks 
at Fort Madison. He is a gentleman of un- 
usual ability, is thoroughly informed as to 
topics of current interest, and is accorded 
a position of high standing and great in- 
fluence in his community. Although of the 
most modest pretentions as to his own worth, 
he is everj'where respected for the sterling 
qualities of his character .and has many 
friends. 



JACOB M. RISSER. 



Jacob M. Risser, a leading and influen- 
tial citizen of Sawyer, Lee county, Iowa, 
and a descendant of one of the early pioneer 
families of the West, was born in West Point 
tnwnship. Lee county, November 2, 1S47. 
the son of Jacob and Amelia (Miller) Risser. 
Jacob Risser, Sr., was bom in Bavaria, 
Germany, December 12, 1815, a son of Dan- 
iel Risser. who was born August 25. 1794. 
and of Elizabeth (Smith) Risser, his wife, 
a daughter of Henry Smith, and the date 
of the marriage of his parents was May 
26, 181 1. When a boy of sixteen the father 
of our subject worked his passage to Amer- 
ica on a sailing vessel, and located at Cleve- 
land, Ohio, where he learned the trade of 
cabinetmaking, and later establi.shed a cabi- 
netmaking shop of his own, a venture in 
which he was very successful, and it was in 
that city on December 8, 1842. that he mar- 
ried .Amelia Miller, who was like himself a 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



173 



native of Bavaria, where she was born May 
16. 182 1. In May, 1845, Mr. Risser. to- 
gether with his father-in-law and his wife's 
sister and husband, accompanied by their 
families, came to Lee county, settling in the 
southwest part of West Point townsliip, 
where they moved into a log cabin ; and it 
was in this house that Mr. Miller and his 
S(in-in-law. Henry Leisey, on May 10, 1845, 
became the victims of the celebrated "Mor- 
mon murder." for which the perpetrators 
of the crime, who were members of the 
Hodges family, paid the penalty with their 
lives in July of the same year at Burling- 
ton, Iowa, where they were hanged. 

Soon after coming to Iowa Jacob Risser 
purchased a farm of eighty acres, which he 
ailtivated for a time, and later he owned a 
sawmill in the village of West Point, oper- 
ating it with considerable profit until some 
time in the eighties, when it was destroyed 
by fire. He achieved success in all he im- 
dertook, and was respected for the fact that 
he was what is called a self-made man, hav- 
ing accumulated a cnmjietency by his own 
efforts and entirely without aid of any kind. 
He was a Democrat in matters of politics, 
and in his religious connection he was a 
member of the Mennonite church, together 
with his wife, continuing in that faith until 
his death, which occurred in 1896, followed 
by that of his wife in 1902, they both be- 
ing buried in the West Point cemetery. To 
them were born the following sons and 
daughters: Daniel F., who resides in Pleas- 
ant Ridge township, this county : John, who 
is a resident of Kansas: Jacob M.. our sub- 
ject ; Abraham, who died when young : Mary 
A. : and Anna, whose death occurred in 
childhood. 



Jacob M. Risser, the subject of this re- 
view, received a good education in a select 
school at West Point, as well as being thor- 
oughly trained in the work of the farm, and 
was employed as his father's assistant until 
the twenty-third year of his age, when he 
wedded Miss Elizabeth Schantz. a native 
of Pleasant Ridge township and daughter of 
Peter and Anna Schantz, who settled in that 
township in 1846. At the time of his mar- 
riage ?ilr. Risser. in company with a brother, 
worked the land belonging to the familv, 
Jacob Risser. Sr.. of 340 acres, in partner- 
ship for six years, after whicli he bought a 
farm in Pleasant Ridge township of eighty 
acres, where he resided until 1891. when he 
again disposed of his land and purchased 
120 acres in the northwestern part of Wash- 
ington township. .At the latter place he re- 
sided for twelve years, or until 1903, in the 
spring of which year he removed to the 
village of Sawyer, there entering into a 
partnership with G. \\'. \"an Hyning to con- 
rluct a mercantile business, the style of the 
firm being Van Hyning & Risser. but the 
connection has since been dissolved. Mr. 
Risser retiring in 1904. 

Mr. Risser is widely known in Lee 
county as a progressive and enter^irising 
farmer who has achieved large and lasting 
success in his work by virtue of business 
qualifications of an unusual order, and his 
political activities have also brought him a 
large circle of acquaintances and friends, as 
he is a prominent member and worker in the 
Democratic party, and has received public 
honors at the hands of the people, having 
been twice elected to the important office of 
county supervisor and added much to his 
popularity. He has also taken an active and 



174 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



helpful interest in promoting the progress 
of religion and morals in his community, he 
and Mrs. Risser being consistent followers 
of the Mennonite faith and rendering much 
assistance in the labors of their denomination 
in this section. They are the parents of a 
family of two sons and one daughter, to 
whom they have given the advantages of 
modern education and excellent home train- 
ing, and who occupy an honored place in the 
society in which they move. These are : 
Jona G., a resident of Montrose township, 
this county, who married Miss Ella Clay- 
poole and has one son, Clay; and Elma E., 
and Irving P., who are members of the 
parental household. 

Mr. Risser in November, 1904, pur- 
chased a home in Danville, Iowa, where he 
is now residing. Irving P., in partnership 
with Charles P)Urton, purchased the general 
mercantile business of L. R. Kelley & Com- 
pany, of Danville, in October of 1904, and 
are now doing business under the firm name 
of Burton & Risser. Miss Elma E. Risser 
acting as their chief clerk. 



SABRET T. MARSHALL 

Sabret T. Marshall, a practicing attor- 
ney at the Keokuk Bar, was born in the city 
which is yet his home, November 20, 1869, 
his parents being Samuel Taylor and Louisa 
Davis (Patterson) Marshall. The father 
was born in Butler county, Ohio, February 
26, 18 1 2, and was a son of Gilbert and Mar\' 
(Hueston) Marshall, native of Pennsylvania 
and Virginia, respectively. Tlie paternal 
great-grandfather, James Marshall, was a 



native of Washington county. Pennsylvania, 
and a farmer by occupation. His wife's 
father was a pioneer settler of the Keystone 
state and was killed by the Indians. He 
lived in a block house in order to secure pro- 
tection against possible dangers, but was 
shot while trading some tobacco. 

Gilbert Marshall had a family of ten 
children, all of whom lived to mature years 
and reared families. This number included 
Samuel Taylor Marshall, who spent his boy- 
hood days upon his father's farm within 
sight of the old Oxford College of Ohio. 
WHien he had completed his course in the 
country schools he entered the preparatory 
department of Oxford and in due course of 
time was graduated on the completion of a 
full classical course in July, 1830- He wrote 
the first constitution and by-laws for the 
Beta Tlieta Pi, a Greek letter society and 
was one of the founders of this organiza- 
tion which now numbers hundreds of mem- 
bers. In early manhood he became very 
patriotic and joined the army called The 
Patriots, which served at the time of the 
Canadian invasion. In recognition of his 
zealous activity he was commissioned a lieu- 
tenant colonel and the document indicating 
his soldierly rank was chewed and swal- 
lowed by him when he was captured by the 
British troops. He and a comrade were 
captured and were thrown into prison. They 
were then tried, pronounced guilty of in- 
vasion, sentenced to be fined and transported 
to Vandiemans Land. Mr. Marshall on ac- 
count of the indiflference with which he 
viewed the situation was set free, but his 
friend and comrade was sent into banish- 
ment. During his term of imprisonment, 
however, Mr. Marshall suffered great hard- 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



175 



ship and exposure and this brought on a 
severe illness. On reaching home he entered 
the law office of Timothy W^alker, of Cin- 
cinnati, and after a season there passed, re- 
sumed his reading in the office of Pettit & 
Orth, of Lafayette, Indiana, where he com- 
pleted liis studies. In December, 1842, Mr. 
Marshall arrived in Lee county. Iowa, and 
entered upon the practice of law at West 
Point, then the county seat, continuing there 
until 1847, when he removed to Keokuk. 
Here he became one of the leading repre- 
sentatives of the early bar, securing a good 
clientage and in public affairs was promi- 
nent and influential, winning not only suc- 
cess as a reward, but also becoming a recog- 
nized leader in movements that advanced the 
general progress and upbuilding. At one 
time he was associated with the Nip & Tuck 
paper, pulilished at a very early day in Lee 
county. In politics he was a recognized 
leader of the Democracy of this part of the 
state, and in his fraternal relations he was 
a Mason. He married Miss Louisa Davis 
Patterson, a native of Kentucky, their wed- 
ding being celebrated at West Point in 1846. 
Her father. Colonel William Patterson, was 
one of the honored pioneer settlers of Iowa, 
and served in the first territorial legislature 
and several succeeding ones. He was a son 
of Joseph Patterson, a native of \'^irginia, 
who espoused the cause of the colonists in 
the Revolutionary War and served in the 
battle of LTah Springs, South Carolina. 
Colonel Patterson was a very prominent 
man in early times and carried on business 
in Iowa as a pork packer. In official life he 
was a recognized leader, serving as post- 
master, as alderman and as mayor of his 



city. His religious faith was that of the 
Presbyterian church and he assisted mate- 
rially in erecting the house of worship, fur- 
nishing all the stones from his own quarry. 
His death occurred in 1888, and his wife 
passed away a few years prior. Mrs. Mar- 
shall passed away on the 28th of March, 
1904. and his death occurred June, 1895, in 
the city of Keokuk. Their children were as 
follows : Robert M., who resides in Keo- 
kuk, and is county attornej' of Lee county, 
and has held the office twice previously; A. 
Tom, who is engaged in the practice of law 
with his brother, Sabret; C. H., who is .en- 
gaged in painting and paper-hanging in 
Keokuk; Maude M., and Sabret. 

At the usual age Sabret T. Marshall en- 
tered the public schools of Keokuk and 
passed through successful grades until he 
had become a high-school student. Deter- 
mining to make the practice of law his life 
work he began reading with his father and 
brotlier, and in January, 1895, was admitted 
to the bar at Des Moines, passing an exam- 
ination in open court before the supreme 
court (if Iowa. Soon afterward he began 
l)ractice in his native city, but he spent the 
years 1896-7-8 in Denver, Colorado, and El 
Paso, Texas, on account of the failure of his 
health. In 1898, however, he returned to 
Keokuk and resumed his law practice here. 
He also became an active factor in political 
circles and in 1899 he was nominated on 
the Democratic ticket for the office of legis- 
lature. He was elected and served so capa- 
lily during his first term that he was re- 
elected. He was an active working member 
and though he did not seek to figure before 
the house in brilliant public debate he did 



176 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW- 



effective service for his party and for his 
state in the committee rooms, being instru- 
mental in securing the passage of a number 
of important 1)ills. He belonged to the com- 
mittees on judiciary, railroads and com- 
merce, municipal corporations, compensa- 
tion of public ofificers, buildings and loan, 
hospital for insane, woman's suffrage and 
rules. During the campaigns he has deliv- 
ered many addresses and is a forceful, ear- 
nest and logical speaker, who keeping well 
informed on the questions and issues of the 
day, is able to support his position by intel- 
ligent arguments and to present it in the 
strong light of clear reasoning. ^Ir. Mar- 
shall was one of a family of ten children, 
of whom five survive. Mone of these are 
married and they all reside at the old fam- 
ily homestead at No. 730 Grand avenue. 
One brother, W. P. Marshall, also an ad- 
vocate of the Democracy, died in 1890 while 
serving his second term as county sheriff. 
Sabret T. Marshall is accorded a position of 
leadership in political circles in his native 
county, and has also attained a creditable 
position as a memlier of the Lee County 
Bar. havjng gained a clientage which is con- 
stantly growing in extent and importance, 
and which has in recent years connected 
him with much of the notable litigation in 
his district. 



WILLIAM M. CONLEE. 

William M. Coulee was for many years 
a prominent farmer of Lee county, and well 
deserves mention among the leading resi- 



dents of this community who in the past 
were loyal to its best interests and largely 
promoted the general good. Although some 
years have come and gone since he passed 
to his final rest, his influence still remains 
as a potent factor in the world, and the mem- 
ory of his life and character is a precious 
heritage to his descendants. He was a native 
of Kentucky, having been born near the 
celebrated Mammoth cave in that state, Xo- 
vember 9. 182 1. There he obtained his edu- 
cation in the public schools, and at the age 
of nineteen he removed with his parents to 
Burlington, Iowa. After a short stay at 
that place the family came to Lee county, 
locating upon the farm on which Mrs. Con- 
lee, the widow of our subject, still resides. 

He was the son of Reuben and Nanc)' 
(Doyle) Conlee. On removing from Burl- 
ington to Lee count)', Reuben Conlee, his 
father, purchased sixty acres in Jefferson 
township, composing part of the present es- 
tate, and here passed the remainder of his 
life as a farmer. He died in his fifty-sixth 
year. December 23, 1846. while at Iowa City 
attending the session of the first legislature 
of the State of Iowa, he being a member 
of the lower house. He is buried in Wil- 
son cemetery in Jefferson township. He was 
a man of prominence, and in addition to his 
other honors he for many years held the 
office of justice of the peace in this county. 
His widow survived him for five years, her 
death occurring in April, 1856. Reuben and 
Nancy Conlee were the parents of eleven 
sons and daughters, only four of whom are 
living at the present time. 

William Conlee. after the death of his 
father, remained on the home farm, purchas- 
ing the interests of the other heirs, and in- 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



^77 



creasing his holdings until tliey consisted of 
i6o acres of fertile land which is now vir- 
tually all under cultivation. He continued 
general, farming and stockraising until his 
death, whicii occurred September 23, i(S96, 
at the old farm home. His remains rest in 
the Wilson cemetery. He was a consistent 
Christian, and a faitliful memlier of tlie 
Bajitist churcii. Pnliticallv he was a believer 
in tlie principles for whicli the Democratic 
party stands, and was loyal to its best in- 
terests. For nearly fifty years he was a jus- 
tice of the peace in Lee county, and held that 
ofifice at the time of his deatli. His last ill- 
ness was of long duration, and because of 
the low state of his health he tendered his 
resignation from the office, but this was re- 
jected. He was also at one time elected 
trustee of Jefferson township. He was a 
public-spirited man, an advocate of all meas- 
ures tending to improve conditions in the 
community of which he was a valued and 
valuable member. He was profoundly re- 
spected by all who knew him, and a refer- 
ence to his long career as a public ser\'ant 
will indicate the honor in which he was held 
by the general public. Many were accus- 
tomed to seek his advice and counsel in re- 
gard to matters of importance, and this was 
always freely given. 

On December 6. 1R63. in \'^an Buren 
county, Iowa, at the home of the bride's 
parents, he was united in marriage with 
Miss Sylvia Jane Standley, daughter of 
Robert and Catherine (Bray) Standley. 
Mrs. Coulee's father, Robert Standley, was 
born in Kentucky, and coming to Iowa in 
pioneer days, located in Van Buren county, 
where he died while his daughter was yet 



a child. His wife survived him several 
years, her death occurring in Van Buren 
county in 1866. 

Unto Mr. and Airs. William M. Coulee 
were born five sons and four daughters at 
the family home in Jefferson township, and 
all are still living. They are : Laura, wife 
of Fred Xa\lor. a frirnicr of Jefferson town- 
ship, has two children, Sylvia Eunice and 
Lawrence ; Mary, wife of W^illiam Wood- 
side, a farmer, of Van Bure'n county, Iowa ; 
George W., a resident of Keokuk, where he 
is a clerk in the postal service, married 
Nancy Davis, and has two children, Mildred 
and Anita ; Robert, who operates the home 
farm, on which he resides: Nora, wife of 
Noah Hewitt, a machinist in the Santa Fe 
shops at Fort Madison, has three sons and 
three daughters, Roy, Cecil, Arthur, Alice, 
Walter and Gladys ; Reuben, who is at home, 
is at the ]iresent time holding the office of 
clerk of Jefferson township, and is secretary 
and treasurer of the Viele Telephone Com- 
pany : Elvira, wife of Fred Bullard, a 
farmer of Warsaw, Illinois ; Linza is living 
at home: .Xndrew A., farmer of Jefferson 
township, married Miss .^nna Christianson. 

On the original purchase which formed 
the nucleus of the present Coulee home- 
stead the grandfather of our subject, fol- 
lowing the custom of the time, built a large 
log house. Tliis reminder of pioneer days 
was in use until about six years ago, when 
Mrs. Coulee and her sons erected the pres- 
ent frame structure, which is a very pleas- 
ant and commodious residence. They have 
also made other improvements. 

William Coulee was an interested wit- 
ness of the development of Lee county from 



1/8 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



primitive conditions, and did his full share 
toward making the county what it is today, 
one of the richest agriadtural sections of the 
state. A kind and loving husband and 
father, a good citizen and a true man, his 
was a life without a stain and a character 
that was rich in traits of native nobility. 



CHARLES H. HENNEMANN. 

The name which introduces this review 
is one familiar to the residents of Keokuk, 
and it is one which suggests to the honest 
man a feeling of confidence and security, 
while to the evil doer it betokens a power 
which is feared as the instrument through 
which he is most likely to meet with ap- 
prehension, and therefore pay the penalty of 
his crimes against the laws, which are the 
stable foundation of the peace and prosper- 
ity of his fellow beings. As city marshal, 
Mr. Hennemann has made a most honorable 
record, and one which reflects credit upon 
his unfaltering allegiance to duty and the 
right. 

Charles H. Hennemann was born in 
Keokuk. Iowa, February 15, 1866, the son 
of Charles George and Elizabeth (Schroe- 
der) Hennemann, and his father was a native 
of Eversberg, Westphalia, Prussia, the date 
of his birth being March 17, 1836. The 
mother of Charles G. Hennemann died when 
he was but six weeks old. survived by her 
infant son and a daughter, Matilda, who 
passed the greater part of her life in St. 



Louis, but is now deceased, and his father 
was later married a second time. Father and 
son were coppersmiths by trade, and when 
Charles G. Hennemann was twenty years of 
age, in 1856, he decided to seek the broader 
opportunities of the New World for the ex- 
ercise of his skill, and accordingly took pas- 
sage in a sailing vessel to New Orleans, and 
landing there, ascended the Mississippi river 
to St. Louis, where he took employment as 
a copper smith. Later he was joined by 
other members of the family, including his 
father, who worked at his trade in St. Louis, 
and whose death occurred there four or five 
years after his coming to America. Li St. 
Louis the father of our subject married Miss 
Schroeder, who was bom in Hamburg, Ger- 
many. September 17, 1843, and came to 
America with her parents and settled in St. 
Louis in 1846 or 1847, and to them were 
born ten sons and daughters, as follows : 
Bertha, who first married Sylvester Betts, 
by which union she had four children, and 
who is now the wife of James Carss ; Charles 
H., the subject of this sketch; Addie. wife 
of Frank Sheldon, who resides in St. Louis, 
and has one child ; Albert, a resident of Keo- 
kuk ; John, who died at the age of thirteen ; 
Willis, of Ouincy, Illinois; Matilda, who 
(lied at the age of twenty-four years ; Frank, 
who died in infancy ; Henry, who 
died in childhood ; and George, who 
resides in St. Louis. The father of the fam- 
ily was foreman of the copper smith depart- 
ment of the Missouri Pacific Railway in St. 
Louis from 1861 to 1865, in which latter 
year he removed to Keokuk, where he was 
for a time employed by the Chicago, Rock 
Island & Pacific Railroad Company, but 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



I/O 



later establislied himself in independent busi- 
ness, which he continued until 1880, when 
lie retircil fmni active life, and his death 
occurred in this city on November 25. 1888. 
The formal education of Charles H. 
Hennemann was received in the public 
schools, and when onlv fourteen years of 
ag'e he began to learn the trade of cigar- 
making by taking employment as a tobacco 
strijijier in a factorv. continuing in this work 
for two years, after which he served a reg- 
idar apprenticeship of three years, and fmm 
1885 to 1887 was a iournevman cigarmaker. 
During this time he traveled to San Fran- 
cisco, thence by an ocean voyage of twenty- 
eight days' duration, and- crossing the Isth- 
mus of Panama by rail, he reached Xew 
York, and worked at his trade in All)any. 
Troy. Lockport, Rochester, Erie. Pennsyl- 
vania ; and Chicago, whence he returned to 
Keokuk, and here he formed a partnership 
with Edward Smith to conduct a business of 
cigar manufacturing and dealing. At the 
end of a year, however, this connection was 
dissolved, and for the following six 
months he was in the manufacturing 
business at Nauvoo, Illinois, and froni 
1890 to 1895 he was engaged in 
the pursuit of his trade in St. Louis, 
but in the latter \ear returned to his 
native city, and for four years conducted 
a successful business here. He then be- 
came a member of the Keokuk police force, 
and two years later was elected to the offlce 
of city marshal, which he holds at the pres- 
ent time, this being the fourth year of his 
incumbency, as he was re-elected at the close 
of his first term. Under his administration 
the Citv of Keokuk has enjoved remarkable 



inununil\- from crime, especially from the 
violence and depredations of habitual offend- 
ers, while those who have had the hardihood 
to tresspass against the majesty of the law 
have been brought promptly and sharply to 
account. Every effort has been put forth 
to suppress crime in any form, and the law- 
breakers of the city are beginning to under- 
stand that they can not with impunity abuse 
the rights and privileges the law accords 
to their fellowmen. Mr. Hennemann cer- 
tainly deserves credit for what he has ac- 
complished in the wa^' of suppressing vice, 
and his course has the endorsement of all 
the best citizens of Keokuk. He has made 
arrests of many desperate characters, nota- 
l)ly tint of Walter Dorman. who was after- 
\\ai"(l the com]ianion of the Biddies, ban- 
dits of Pittslnu'g. who were executed for 
murder. 

To mention nierelv bis |)h\sical devel- 
o]imeiit. Mr. Plennemann is a magnificent 
specimen of manhood, being six feet, three 
and a half inches in height and weighing 
26^ pounds, while he holds rank as one of 
the leading and 1)€St-known athletes of the 
United States, and holds many important 
championship medals, as well as having 
broken a number of the world's records in 
athletic performances. Aiuong his better 
known feats of strength may be mentioned 
the w inning of the championship for jnitting 
the fifty-six-pound weight in 1892. when he 
made a record of twelve feet, ten inches, and 
also won the Western Athletic .'\ssociation 
medal by throwing the sixteen-pound ham- 
mer. t2T feet. In 1895 be won a champion- 
ship by throwing the fifty-six pound ham- 
mer twentv-nine feet, and in the Central 



i8o 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



Athletic meet of the same year made the 
champion shot put of forty-one feet, ten 
inches, and the champion sixteen-pound 
lianimer tlirow of 127 feet. In 1897 he ac- 
companied the Chicago Athletic Association 
team to Xew York, where he won the na- 
tional championship for putting the sixteen- 
pound shot, forty-two feet, seven and three- 
fourths inches, and at the same meet took 
second place for throwing the fifty-six- 
poiind shot, while on the same day he won 
the world's record for the classical sport 
of discus throwing, making a distance of 1 18 
feet, nine inches, the best previous record 
being 106 feet. This remarkable record was 
made on August 28, 1897, and the following 
month Mr. Hennemann again went to New 
York to participate in a meet between the 
Chicago Athletic Association and the New 
York Athletic Club, and won the discus 
throw at 113 feet, and second, the sixteen- 
pound shot put with a distance of forty-one 
feet, and won second place in the sixteen- 
pound hammer throw with a distance of 136 
feet. At the Olympian games at St. Louis 
in 1904, he was awarded fourth place, 
throwing the fifty-six-pound weight thirty- 
two feet, one inch. 

On September 26, 1888, Mr. Henne- 
mann wedded Miss Mary A. Gallett, daugh- 
ter of Eseph Gallett, a native of Paris, 
France, and an early settler of Keokuk, and 
previously of Nauvoo, Illinois. Mr. Gal- 
lett is now deceased, and his widow has since 
married Louis Cobelena, and resides in 
Keokuk. To Mr. and Mrs. Hennemann 
have been born two children, Charles M. 
and Mary A. 

Politicallv, Marshall Hennemann is a 



Democrat and a loyal worker for the success 
of his party. In his fraternal relations he 
has numerous connections, being a member 
of Hardin Lodge, No. 29, Free and Ac- 
cepted Masons ; Knights of Pythias, No. 5 ; 
Keokuk Camp, No. 622, Modern Woodmen 
of America ; the local lodge of Ancient Or- 
der of United Workmen; Keokuk Assembly 
No. 105. American Benevolent Association; 
Keokuk Lodge, No. 106, Benevolent and 
Protective Order of Elks ; Keokuk Lodge, 
Xo. 544, Knights of Honor, and the local 
lodge of the Order of Eagles. It is scarcely 
necessary to say that I\Ir. Hennemann is a 
man endowed with the strongest individual- 
ity, intrepid bravery when in the face of 
the most desperate situations, and a remark- 
able coolness and presence of mind under 
all circumstances. As a man among men he 
holds the esteem of those with whom he 
comes in contact, either in an official or a 
social wav. 



WILLIAM M. DOOLEY. 

William M. Dooley. a retired business 
man wf Keokuk whose careful management 
and the husbanding of his resources in for- 
mer ^•cars now enables him to rest from 
further active labor, was born in Bath 
county, Kentucky. May 9. 1862. His father, 
Jefferson Dooley, also a native of Bath 
county, was a farmer by occupation and en- 
gaged in the raising of horses. He mar- 
ried I^lizabcth Boyd, who died June 23. 
1 88 1, at the age of forty-five years, while 



LEE COUNTY, 10 IV A. 



i8i 



his demise occurred March i. iS<jij, wiien 
he was sixty-niiic years of age. Tliey were 
tlie parents of six children: Sanford X.; 
Lavona, the deceased wife of J. B. Walker, 
of Bath connty; AHce, deceased; Wilham; 
Charles R.. a farmer of Bath connty, and 
Xannic. wife of Edward Specknian. of 
Qnincy. Illinois. 

William Dooley was educated in the 
conntr_\- schools of Kentncky and remained 
at home until twenty-two years of age as- 
sisting his father in his farm labors, after 
which he began farming on his own account. 
Two years were thus passed in Bath county 
and in 18S7 he came to Keokuk, where he 
went into the livery liusiness in connection 
X\ ith William Smith. After a year the part- 
nership was dissolved and Mr. Dooley was 
alone in business until he sold out in 1899. 
He conducted a good stable at Xos. 18 and 
JO Third street, keeping twentv horses for 
livery purposes, and his earnest desire to 
please his patrons, combined with his re- 
liability in all business transactions, secured 
him a good patronage. Thus as the years 
passed he added to his income and now is 
living retired. 

In 1886 Mr. Dooley was united in mar- 
riage to Miss Lois O. Smith, a daughter of 
John W. and Eliza (Yenowine) Smith, na- 
tives of Kentucky but at' the time of their 
daughter's marriage living upon a farm in 
Hancock connty, Illinois. Tliev were the 
parents of eight children. Mr. and Mrs. 
Dooley are members of the Christirm church 
and in his political belief he is a Democrat 
but has never had political as])irations. The 
years of his residence here have l)rought him 
warm friendships and high regard. 



HENRY C. QBRBOTH. 

II. C. Gerbolh. retired engineer, who is 
now living at his home in Montrose, Lee 
county, Iowa, was born October 11, 1848, 
in Saxony, Germany, and when about six 
years of age came w ilh his parents to .\mer- 
ica, embarking at Bremen and landing at 
X'ew York, after a voyage of six weeks" dur- 
ation. Here the family first went to La 
Salle, Illinois, but later returned east to 
Tittsburg, Pennsyhania, where our sub- 
ject was apprenticed in a steamboat ma- 
chine shop, and acquired the trade of a ma- 
chinist. The parents, however, went to 
Xicollet county. Minnesota, where they 
engaged in farming, and there the father 
was shot and killed by Indians while work- 
ing in the field, and there also the death of 
the mother occurred. They were the par- 
ents of five children besides our subject, 
these being Frederick, Charles, Augusta and 
William, all of Minnesota, and Emma, of 
Des Moines, Iowa. 

Mr. Gerboth first came to Iowa in 1856, 
as engineer on a steamboat, which went 
down the Ohio river to its mouth and as- 
cended the Mississippi river, he making his 
headquarters at Keokuk, and in 1863 he 
married and established his home at Mont- 
rose. I'or forty-six years he followed bis 
profession on the Mississi])pi river — from 
1856 to 1 90 J continuously — about four 
years of this time being spent as assistant 
engineer and forty-two years as chief en- 
gineer, and in all this li>ng period of time 
he met with but one accident of import- 
ance, which occurred in 1865, when he was 
making the trip up the river on the boat, 



IS2 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



"Island City," with a cargo of corn belong- 
ing to the Federal government, and destined 
for the garrison at Fort Union. The cargo 
becoming wet, it swelled and burst 
the hull of the vessel, thus causing 
the boat to sink, and while the ma- 
chinery was saved and towed back- 
to the City of St. Louis on barges, 
the hull of the boat was left in the river, as 
all efforts to raise it failed. The second en- 
gineer on this trip was \\^illiam Oldenburg, 
now deceased, a sketch of whose career is 
given on another page of this volume. Mr. 
Gerboth's experience as an engineer has 
been extremely varied, and included during 
the Civil War considerable work on trans- 
port boats, he also acting as engineer of the 
dispatch boat, "Adam Heine," which was in 
the service of General Grant, at Millikin's 
Bend, near Vicksburg, from which the 
general viewed the maneuvers of the army 
and fleet. His first regular employment on 
the Mississippi river was as engineer of a 
towboat plying over the Des Moines rapids, 
after which he was engineer on the North- 
ern line, which ran daily packets between 
St. Louis and St. Paul, and for three years 
he was employed on the ferryboat "Keo- 
kuk," plying between Keokuk and Ham- 
ilton, this being before the Keokuk and 
Haniiltiin l)ridge \\'as constructed, while 
from tS8o to 1885 he run a sawmill at Mont- 
ro.s'e for the firm of Healy, Felt & White. 
During the latter period of his work he was 
engineer of the Kit Carson raft boat, owned 
1)_\- John C. Daniels, of Keokuk, and engaged 
in towing lumber and logs from Stillwater, 
Minnesota, to Hannibal, Missouri, and to 
other points, and among the principal boats 



on which he has filled the position of chief 
engineer are the "Reserve," the "Canada," 
the "Ivit Carson," and the "Savannah." 

On September 9, 1863, Mr. Gerboth 
was imited in marriage to Miss Harriet Pat- 
terson, who was born in Ohio, and came to 
Montrose in her girlhood, and to them have 
been born three sons, as follows: Edward, 
who died at the age of thirty-eight years; 
Charles, of Decth, Nevada, who married 
Miss Ida Bane, and has four children, 
Charles. Ruth, Albert and Eloise: Albert, 
groceryman, of Davenport, who married 
Miss Nellie Reeves, of Montrose. Husband 
and wife are faithful members of the Pres- 
byterian church, in which they are devoted 
workers, and to whose support anrl charities 
they have always generously contributed, 
and fraternally Mr. Gerboth is a member of 
Joppa Lodge, No. 136, of the ^Masonic 
Order, being Junior Warden of the Lodge, 
and Mrs. Gerboth is a member of the Order 
of the Eastern Star. He has done his full 
share in attending to the public affairs of 
his community, having served as a member 
of the common council, and of the board of 
education, and lieing a helpful worker in 
the ranks of the Republican party, in whose 
principles he is a thorough and conscientious 
believer, although bound In' no hard and fast 
ties of partisanship. In a i)ecuniary way he 
has been verv successful, owning at the 
]M-esent time the ranch of 240 acres in Ne- 
\ada, managed by his son, Charles, the store 
building in Davenport, Iowa, occupied by his 
son .\lbert, residence property in East Mo- 
line, Illinois, and the . pleasant home in 
Montrose, where he enjoys in retirement 
from active duties of life the ease which he 



LEE COUNTY. IOWA. 



183 



has well earned by a life of conscientious 
labor, frugality and economy. Jlis place 
in the esteem of his neighbors is an enviable 
one, and the honor in which he is held has 
been fully merited by the life record which 
he had made for the inspiration of future 
generations, for his achievements are en- 
tirelv the result of his own efforts, unas- 
sisted bv familv. kindred or friends. 



SARAH J. THOMPSON, M. D. 

Dr. Sarah J. Thompson, who. since 
1869, has engaged in the practice of medi- 
cine, and is now devoting her attention ex- 
clusively to the treatment of chronic di- 
seases, in Keokuk, was I)orn in Delaware 
county, Indiana. July 7, 1S34, lier parents 
being Josejih and Elizabeth (Pope) Bent- 
ley. The founder of the Bentley family in 
America was Jonathan Bentley, who came 
from England and settled in Virginia. He 
was the father of Dr. Joseph Bentley. The 
latter married Elizabeth Pope, a daughter of 
Nathaniel Pope, a native of England, and 
a son of Sir Walter and Lady Isabella Pope, 
of England. Lady Isabella was shipwrecked 
while on a voyage to .\merica in colonial 
days to visit members of her family in this 
country, and was lost at sea. Nathaniel 
Pope was a resident of Ohio at the time his 
daughter. Elizabeth, became the wife of Dr. 
Joseph Bentley. 

Dr. Bentley was born near Richmond. 
Virginia, and became a physician and sur- 



geon, lie practiced many years ami was 
a resident of Jndiana while the Red Men 
were still living there. There he reared his 
faniih . nunil)ering one son and live daugh- 
ters : Lydia and Sydia, twins ; Sarah Jane, 
Julia .Ann, Nathaniel, and Mary. In 1852 
Dr. Bentley made the overland trip to the 
Pacific coast, acconii):uiied by his daughter. 
Dr. Thompson, who was then sixteen years 
of age. He drove an ox team and she rode 
a pony. Their road lay through Council 
Bluffs, up the Platte river and through the 
Black Hills country, striking the Columbia 
river at The Dalles, Oregon. Indians were 
numerous in the Western districts, but did 
them no harm. Dr. Bentley's oxen died on 
the road, and he and his daughter were as- 
sisted by a Mr. Huntington to the John Day 
river, where they found William L. Thomp- 
son, who had a mule team, and took them to 
The Dalles. From the cascades of the Co- 
lumbia thev went to Portland by boat, thence 
up the Willamette to Oregon City, and from 
September Dr. Bentley and his daughter 
made their home with his cousin, a Mr. 
Jennings, wlm had been the first school 
teacher in Iowa, and who then lived a mile 
and a half from Oregon City. 

On the 2d of December, 1852, Sarah 
Bentley gave her hand in marriage to Wil- 
liam Lytic Thompson, the wedding taking 
](l;u-e in Oregon City. Mr. Thompson was 
born in Huntingdon county, Pennsylvania, 
.\ugust 18, 1823, and was a descendant of 
Thomas Thomiison. who was born Decem- 
ber 7, 1744. He was of Scotch-Irish line- 
age, and settled in Pennsylvania about 1768. 
He married Eleanor Lindsey. who was born 
May 4, 1767, and they settled on govern- 



1 84 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



nicnt land in Carter county, Pennsylvania, 
which was then an almost unbroken wilder- 
ness. Twelve children were born unto 
them there, eleven of whom reached adult 
age. They were: William, Elizabeth. 
Abraham Thomas (who died in infanc}-), 
Jolm, Thomas (second of the name), Israel, 
Amos, Nathan, Mary, Jonathan and Joseph. 
All of the sons, with one exception, were 
over six feet in height, and were strong and 
active. 

Amos Thompson, father of W. L. 
Thompson, was torn October 27, 1783. and 
was the smallest of the family — -being five 
feet and ten inches in height — but was the 
most active, and the finest shot, not only in 
his own. biijt also in adjoining counties. For 
several years he wore the champion belt as 
a fist fighter, surpassing all others in that 
part of Pennsylvania. In later years he left 
behind him the games of youth and became 
an active member of the ^lethodist Episcopal 
church. In 1812 he married Miss Eliza- 
beth Bateman, of Center county, Pennsyl- 
vania, who was born July 4, 1790. She 
was a member of the Methodist Episcopal 
church for over sixty-six years. Amos 
Thompson died in ]Morgan county, Ohio, 
March 18, 1851, and his widow passed 
away in Keokuk, Iowa, March 4, 1871. 
They reared four sons and five daughters : 
Thomas B., Eleanor, Hannah, John \\'.. 
William L., Rachel M., Joseph L., Jane E., 
and Drusilla. 

William Lytle Thompson ac(|uired a 
common-school education, and in 1852 went 
to Oregon. There he ran a wharfboat and 
transported goods up the Willamette 
twenty miles to the Falls, assisted by Dr. 



Bentley. In 1854 he and his wife and her 
father returned to "The States," by way 
of I'ortland, proceeding by steamer to- 
Frisco, where they boarded another boat for 
Panama. After landing there ?klrs. Thomp- 
son rode a nuile, carrying her bain' in her 
arms, over the rough trail to the entl of the 
railroad, which transported them to the At- 
lantic coast, where they boarded a steamer 
for New York, and from the Eastern me- 
tropolis returned to Muncie, Indiana. Soon- 
afterward they made their way to Keosa- 
qua, Iowa, where they settled. ]\Irs. Thomp- 
son's mother and the other members of the 
family had gone to Kansas, and there they 
were joined by Dr. Bentley. Both he and 
his wife died in that state. 

In 1861 Mr. Thompson enlisted in the 
Third Iowa Cavalry for service as a de- 
fender of the Union cause, but was soon 
transferred to the hospital corps as a nurse. 
He remained on acti\e duty until the close 
of hostilities, and was discharged at the close- 
of the war with health shattered. He had 
been in the hospital service in Missouri, Ar- 
kansas, Georgia, and Kentucky, and was dis- 
charged in Louisville in 1865. Mrs. Thomp- 
son also went to the front as a nurse, and 
was in the field service until 1863, enduring 
all the privations and hardships of marches 
through the heat of summer and the cold of 
winter. She was in the hospitals at Ful- 
ton, Pilot Knob, Houston, and Mexico, Mis- 
souri, and also spent some time in the hos- 
])ital at Keokuk. She was in the- 
hospital in the Ozarks one winter, then 
returned to Pilot Knob, and later to Keo- 
kuk, being in the Simpson House Hospital 
for two years. When the war ended Mrs. 



LEE COUNTY. 10 IV A. 



185 



Tliompson coiitinuetl in liospital work, be- 
ouiiing matron of the hospital condiicteil by 
Dr. J. C. Hughes, of Keokuk, and there, in 
addition to her duties, she attended three 
courses of lectures daily in the Keokuk Med- 
ical College for five years, at the end of 
which time she stood the examination and 
obtained a certificate to practice from the 
State of Iowa. She has engaged contin- 
uously in practice since i86g, and her long 
hospital experience, as w'ell as her thorough 
preparation as a medical student, well (|ual- 
fied her for the wurk wliich she chose and in 
which she won creditable success. She has 
now retired from general practice, treating 
only chronic diseases. Her husband, follow- 
ing his return fmm the war. was unable to 
engage in any business on account of a sun- 
stroke which he had sustained. He was a 
Republican in politics. His death occurred 
June 28, 1904. 

Mrs. Thompson became the mother of 
twelve children, but only one is now living: 
Joseph C. Thompson, who was born in 
Oregon City, Oregon, and is now a mail car- 
rier in Keokuk. He was graduated from 
Jamison's school and Miller's Commercial 
College, of Keokuk. He married Mamie 
McDonald, a daughter of Michael and.Kath- 
erine McDonald, who were natives of Ire- 
land, while tlicir daughter was Ijorn in Keo- 
kuk. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Thomp- 
son six children have been born : Mary 
Alice, the wife of Edward G. Singleton; 
Virginia Ellen, the widow of Clifton Floyd, 
of Texas ; Grace Elizabeth, deceased ; James 
C, Mamie L., and Laura Ruth. Dr. 
Thompson has one great-grandchild. Clifton 
T.. son of Clifton V. and Virginia E. 
Flovd, of Keokuk. 



Dr. Thompson receives a pension for 
her services in the war. Hers has been an 
e\entful life, full of unusual experiences 
that have developed her latent powers and 
l)rought out splendid traits of character. 
Leaving home at the age of sixteen to ac- 
company her father on the arduous joiu-ney 
across the jjlains, she became familiar with 
life on the Pacific coast during the period of 
its pioneer development, and later returned 
to the West to soon afterward render ef- 
fective aid to her country in caring for its 
sick and w<]unded soldiers. The ill health 
of her husband ])rompted her to become a 
factor in professional circles, and as a phy- 
sician she has won notable success, at the 
same time e\er displaying those W'Omanly 
qualities which have made her a strong fac- 
tor socially as well as professionally, win- 
ning her the unchanging respect ana esteem 
of many friends. 



ROBERT KERR. 



.Vny work which has for its object the 
philosophical exposition of the history of a 
community, with a view to its adoption 
by the present or future generations as a 
guide or inspiration in the daily affairs of 
life, must in a large measure deal with the 
origins of th.at .'■■ociety, with the primeval 
condition of the land and with the careers 
and characters of the men and women who, 
urged by the stimulus of .some supreme con- 
viction, waged war with hostile nature, 
pushed back her borders, and reclaimed her 



t86 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



hitherto wild and untamed forces to the 
uses and purposes of civilization. Of one of 
the well-known pioneer families which made 
Lee county what it is today — one of the 
richest argricultural sections of the Missis- 
sippi valley — Robert Kerr was a worthy rep- 
resentative, and a record of his life, show- 
ing the relation in which he stood to the 
early development of Iowa, will be valuable 
as illustrating" man's power over environ- 
ment, and as an example of high achieve- 
ment thrr)ugh noble and inflexible resolve. 

Robert Kerr was torn near Pittsburg, 
Pennsylvania, and on coming west with 
his parents, settled near Peoria. Illinois, but 
later, when the lad was fifteen years of age, 
the date Ijeing 1840, the family removed to 
Lee county and purchased a farm in Jack- 
son township, where a house of logs was 
erected, and the pioneers settled down to the 
long fight with the wilderness, which was to 
issue in such splendid triumph in later years, 
and whose object was to secure "the glorious 
privilege of being independent." Theirs 
was a life of manv cares, and was necessarily 
much concerned with the acc[uirenient of 
worldy wealth, not because they considered 
material benefits as the highest good in life, 
but because they saw that these might be 
made the means to spiritual ends, and that 
the successful tiller of the soil has the 
strength to resist the march of Wrong and 
to help forward the cause of Right. 

Mr. Kerr grew to years of maturity on 
the farm in Jackson township, and near 
Charleston, on May 9, 1852, he was united 
in marriage to Miss Ruth Caldwell, who 
was born May 19, 1832, near Monmouth. 
Illinois, the daughter of Thomas and Mary 
(Carruthers) Caldwell, of near Mount 



Pleasant, Ohio. To Mr. and Mrs. Kerr 
were born six sons and two daughters, all 
of whom are still living, as follows : Alex 
D., who married Miss Laura Wright; Wil- 
liam C, who married Miss Anna Hemp- 
stead: Olive C now the wife of \\'illiam C. 
Kite: Robert C. who married Miss Lilly 
Van .Vusdal : Walter B., who married Miss 
Lucille O'Blennis; Isaac B., Thomas E., and 
Mary Isabel, wife of C. M. Snodgrass, of 
Albia, Iowa. The roll of family names also 
contains those of eight grandchildren, 

Mr. Kerr was a lifelong member of the 
L'nited Presbyterian church, as was also his 
father, and was for a long term of years an 
elder of the Summitville congregation, and 
always by the influence of his life doing 
much to advance the cause of Christianity. 
On his farm one of the early church edifices 
was erected, consisting of logs, and he and 
his father and brothers assisted in hewing 
the logs for the structure, which occupied 
the present site of the "Hickoni- Grove" 
school-house. The "Hickory Grove" ceme- 
ter}' is also located on his farm, and has al- 
ways been cared for liy the family. He gave 
careful and detailed attention to the man- 
agement and operation of his farm, which 
was a" fertile tract of 200 acres, weli-im- 
])roved and cultivated, liut he never neg- 
lected his (kities to the public, discharging 
the functions of director of the public 
school nearly all his life after attaining his 
majority, and holding the important office 
of trustee of his township for a great many 
years. Enjoying as he did the fullest con- 
fidence of his neighbors and of all who knew 
him — confidence in his ability, soundness of 
judgment and the absolute rectitude of his 
every act — his administration of public in- 



LEE COUNTY. IOWA. 



187 



terests was always vigorous and effective, 
tliough at the same time cautious, conserva- 
tive and economical. Politically he acteil 
with the Republican party, and was one of 
its highly valued members in his township, 
possessing much influence in its counsels, 
which was used in accordance with the pur- 
est dictates of integrity and honor. He 
passed his life in the practice of the cardinal 
virtues, and upon all with whom he came in 
contact he left his impress for good, and 
this was strengthened by his genial and gen- 
erous temperament and admirable social 
qualities. His death occurred at the home 
farm, July 21, 1884, in the fifty-ninth }'ear 
of his age, and he was laid at rest in Hick- 
ory Grove cemetery beside his father, 
mother, brothers and sisters, who preceded 
him to the better life beyond. His mother's 
death occurred in her ninety-first year, and 
she is also interred in Hickory Grove ceme- 
ter)', leaving a mynory rich in records of 
good deeds. Mr. Kerr was a man of great 
force of character, and is entitled to credit 
for what he accomplished, for while achiev- 
ing a private business success of no small 
proportions, he contributed in a material 
degree to the general advancement and up- 
building of the community. 



EUGENE S. BAKER. 



The more important financial and busi- 
ness interests of southern Iowa are worthily 
represented by Eugene S. Baker, of Keo- 
kuk, who has for a number of j'ears been 



actively and substantially connected with 
most -of the large enterprises having their 
inception in this section of the state. Mr. 
LJaker was born at Waukegan, Illinois, 
April 10, 1850, antl is the son of Silas F. 
and Weltha ( i. (Buell) Baker. His father 
was born at Sandy Creek, Oswego county. 
Mew York, and' coming west as a young 
man, became a farmer in Lake county, Illi- 
nois. There he married Miss Buell, who 
was also a native of New York, but removed 
to the \\"est with her parents. S. F. Baker 
made several changes of residence, and 
finally settled in Keokuk, where he engaged 
in the proprietary medicine Ijusiness, achiev- 
ing, by the exercise of energy, care and abil- 
ity much above the ordinary, a verj' gratify- 
ing measure of success. He formed some 
connection with purely financial interests, 
being at one time a director of the State 
Central Bank. For fifteen years before his 
death, which occurred in 1898, he lived re- 
tired from active life. Mrs. Baker, mother 
of our subject, died in 1891. 

Eugene S. Baker recei\-cd his education 
in the public schools of Iowa, and on coming 
to Keokuk in 1868 engaged in business, first 
with his father, under the firm style of S. F. 
Baker & Son. The name was changed to 
S. F. Baker & Company, and has since Ijeen 
continued as such. A large and well-equip- 
ped manufactory is maintained at Seventh 
and Johnson streets, i)lacing upon the mar- 
ket a general line of family remedies, amf 
a force of traveling salesmen is employed, 
sufficiently numerous to cover thoroughly all 
the states of the entire Middle West. 

Mr. Baker is at the present time a direc- 
tor in the Blom-Collier Company, wholesale 
grocers, of Keokuk ; the Drake Carpet & 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



Furniture Company, of Burlington ; the Col- 
lins-Heaslip Company, of Keokuk ; the State 
Central Savings Bank, of Keokuk; the Lin- 
coln Trust Company, of St. Louis ; the 
Gate City Printing Company, of Keokuk, 
and of the Taber Lumber Company, and 
vice-president of the Keokuk Xational Bank. 

Keokuk is pre-eminently a city of beau- 
tiful homes, and one of the finest is the mag- 
nificent edifice erected by Mr. Baker, at the 
corner of Fourth and Orleans streets, on 
the l)hiffs o\-erlooking the Mississippi river. 
Both the situation and the structure are all 
that might be desired. In 1874 Mr. Baker 
was united in marriage to Miss Marj- E. 
Cochran, of Keokuk, and to them have been 
born three sons, as follows : E. Ross, who 
married Miss Upham, and has one son, E.. 
Ross, Jr. : Jesse E.. who married ]\Iiss Ade- 
laide La Taste, of Montgomery, Alabama, 
and Myrle F.. who is at present a student in 
Yale College. Jesse E. and E. Ross Baker 
are associated with their father in the medi- 
cine business. 

Mr. Baker has beeen prominentlv as- 
sociated with the various charities and phil- 
anthropic movements of Keokuk, and was n 
director of the Young Men's Christian As- 
sociation during the erection of the present 
large and beautiful building. Fraternally 
he is a meml^er of the Independent Order 
Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias. 
In political affiliation he is a Republican, but 
has never engaged in partisan activities, nor 
aspired to public office. His position and 
standing in the community, however, to- 
gether with the signal ability displayed, is 
shown in the conduct of his private affairs. 
Self-respecting, of known integrity and 



strong character, he has risen easily equal 
to all trusts reposed in him, he has made 
himself known and felt throughout a wide 
circle of action, and wherever known en- 
joys the respect and esteem which rewards 
success honorably achieved. 



WILLIAM SCHNEIDER. 

William Schneider, one of the early set- 
tlers and highly respected citizens of Fort 
Madison, now leading a retired life at his 
pleasant home, at No. 1736 Fifth street, was 
born in the Kingdom of Hanover, Germany, 
on the i6th of March. 1837, and was a 
son of Francis Schneider, who was in the 
English service at the time the Duke of Wel- 
lington checked the progress of Napoleon 
in his conquest of Europe. He received a 
medal in recognition of the aid which he 
thus rendered, and the medal bears the in- 
scription "Francis Schneider, Third Land 
Battalion, K. G. L., Wellington. Waterloo, 
June 18, 181 5." He had one .son, Fred 
Schneider, who came to America ten years 
before the emigration of ^^^il!iam Schneider, 
and who was a very successful man, his es- 
tate being valued at about $100,000 at the 
time of his death, which occurred in 1803. 

W'hen sixteen years of age William 
Schneider, bidding adieu to home and 
friends, crossed the Atlantic to the new 
world, and he never saw his parents after- 
ward. He brought with him the medal just 
mentioned and it is one of his cherished 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



189 



possessions. When lie reached the L'nited 
States he had only a tew cents and one set 
of clothing. He niacle his way westward to 
Chicago, and there found employment at 
seventy-five cents per day. After a year 
spent in that city he came to Lee county, 
Iowa, locating at St. Paul, where he ar- 
ranged to work as a farm hand at sixty dol- 
lars per year. He continuetl to reside at 
that place and within a short time purchased 
forty acres of land near St. Paul, making 
his home there. He engaged in farming un- 
til his removal to Fort Madison, ahout fif- 
teen years ago, after which he accepted a 
position as guard at the penitentiary, acting 
in that capacity for twelve years. He has 
since lived a retired life, doing just enough 
gardening upon his own place to occupy his 
attention, for idleness and indolence have 
ever heen utterly foreign to his nature, and 
he could not content himself without some 
ocaipation. He purchased his pleasant home 
about eleven years ago, and it is the visible 
evidence of his life of thrift, economy and 
enterprise. 

Mr. Schneider manifested his loyalty to 
his adopted country at the time of the Civil 
War by enlisting in 1864 as a member of 
Company F, Twelfth Iowa Infantry, with 
which he served until the close of hostilities. 
He was in Alabama and Louisiana, and fol- 
lowed Sherman through the Atlanta cam- 
paign, being honorably discharged at Mont- 
gomery, Alabama, where he was also mus- 
tered out. He is now a member of the Grand 
Army of the Republic, and thus maintains 
pleasant relations with his' old army com- 
rades. His interest in matters of citizen- 
ship and of local and national progress is 



deep antl sincere, and he manifests the same 
loyalty to his country in days of peace that 
he displayed when he wore the blue uniform 
and followed the stars and stripes on the 
battlefields of the South. 

On the 3d of November, 1867, in St. 
Paul, Lee county, Iowa Mr. Schneider was 
married to Miss Maggie \'an Tiger, who 
■was l)orn in Cermany and came to the 
United States in 1862, being a resident of 
St. Paul at the time of her marriage. Her 
father was a farmer, and following his emi- 
gration to the new world lived and died in 
St. Paul. ■ Mr. and Mrs. Schneider have 
l;ecome the parents of eleven children, seven 
sons and four daughters : Gertrude, the 
wife of Barney Korte, a farmer residing at 
Salisbury, Missouri, Ijy whom she has six 
children : John, Margaret, Katherine, Benja- 
min, William and Louise; Frank, who is now 
living in Omaha, Nebraska, and married 
Bertha Leach, by whom he has four chil- 
dren: Lydia, Eva, Ruble, and Margaret; 
Kate, the wife of Rudolph Pletscher, of 
Da-venport, Iowa, and the mother of two 
children: XN'aldemar and Elsa ; Lizzie, who 
died at the age of seventeen years; William, 
who conducts a saloon in Fort Madison; 
Henry, at home ; Stephen, of Seattle, Wash- 
ington ; Martin, also of Seattle : John, of 
Hannibal, Missouri; Joseph, who is a mem- 
ber of a railroad construction corps and re- 
sides in Indiana, and Margaret. All of the 
children were born in Lee county, and have 
been educated in the Catholic schools, both 
Mr. and Mrs. Schneider being commun- 
icants of the Roman Catholic church. In 
politics he is a Republican, and has been a 
member of the registration board. Having 



190 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



long been a resident of Lee county, he has 
witnessed many important changes here 
and has seen the work of improvement car- 
ried on, bearing his full share in the labor 
of developing the couhty and promoting 
its substantial progress. Having lived in 
the United States from the age of sixteen 
years, dependent entirely upon his own re- 
sources since he left the Fatherland, his life 
record is today an exemplification of what 
may be accomplished when one has a strong 
will, a persevering spirit and unfaltering en- 
erg\^ These being numbered among Mr. 
Schneider's salient characteristics he gradu- 
ally won for himself successes in the busi- 
ness world and in his adopted county has 
gain.ed manv friends. 



CHARLES OFF. 



Charles Off. proprietor of the bakery in 
West Keokuk, was born in W'urttemberg, 
Germany, on the nth of March, 1866. His 
parents. Gottlob and Christina (Dannen- 
hauer) Off. are still living in their native 
country. There were eight children in the 
family: Mrs. Carrie Sturm, Ji>hn and 
Charles, being in America; and those in 
Germany are Christina, Christian. Rosina, 
Gottlob and Ernest. 

Charles Off obtained his education in 
the schools of his native country and when 
fifteen years of age came to America, land- 
ing at Philadelphia on the 25th of ]\Iay, 
1 88 1. There he learned the baker's trade. 



which he followed for five years and in 1886 
he removed to Peoria. Illinois, where he 
spent eight months. In August, 188", he 
came to Keokuk and after working for 
others for ten weeks he began business on 
his own account at Xo. 918 Main street. 
This was on the ist of Xovember. 1887, 
and on the 8th of the same month he was 
married. After three years he purchased 
jiroperty at Xo. 501-3 A street, building 
there a residence and baker\'. He improved 
the property to the \alue of four thousand 
dollars and has since been at this place, con- 
ducting business here for fourteen years. 
He is now proprietor of a general baking 
establishment, employing three bakers and 
using three horses and two delivery' wagons 
in sending out his goods to his customers. 
His is entirely a local trade and there is 
a large demand throughout the city for the 
products of his establishment. His business 
has reached very gratifying proportions, 
owing to his thorough knowledge of the 
trade and his reliability in all transactions. 
On the 8th of November, 1887, Mr. 
Off was married to Miss Minnie Traenkle, 
who was born in Germany in 1865. They 
became acc|uainted in Philadelphia and their 
marriage has been blessed with six children, 
three sons and three daughters, Carrie, Min- 
nie, Charles, Gustaf. Gertrude and Ernest. 
Charles Off was reared in the German 
Evangelical Lutheran church, to which he 
belongs. He is also a member of the In- 
dependent Order of Odd Fellows, the 
Woodmen of the World, the .\ncient Order 
of United \\'orkmen and is the president of 
the Liederkranz Singing Society. He 
possesses in common with the majority of 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



191 



i-1 '$ 

his countnnien great love of music and lias 

considerable talent in that direction. In 
his political \ie\\s he is a Democrat and is 
now serving as alderman from the fourth 
ward. He is an active working member of 
the council and is now in the committees on 
finance, railroads, board of health ami 
streets. He is deeply interested in local 
politics, doing all in his power to promote 
the growth and insure the success of his 
party and has frequently been a delegate 
to county conventions. Time has demon- 
strated the wisdom of his choice of Keokuk 
as a place of residence for in this city he 
found the business conditions he sought 
and through close application and capability 
in the control of his trade interests he has 
gradually advanced toward success and is 
one of the substantial representatives of in- 
dustrial life in Keokuk. 



MRS. GRACE REBO. 

Mrs. Rebo was born on a farm near 
Fort Madison September 20, 1864, and is 
the daughter of Wilson and Gertrude (Wal- 
lace) Bullard, being the only child. The 
mother died in the child's infancy, but the 
father is still living. At the age of sixteen 
years she was married to Bernard Rebo, 
who was born near Waterloo, Iowa. He 
was of French descent. To them were born 
three children, as follows : John, born De- 
cember 14, 1883; Ray, born September 13, 

1887, and Gertrude, born February 7, 1889. 
12 



Mrs. Rebo's main characteristic is self- 
reliance, and for many years she has sup- 
ported herself and the family b\- her own 
efforts. Fifteen years she spent as a pioneer 
in the \\'est — in Kansas, Nebraska, Colo- 
rado and South Dakota. She has taken, 
held and sold two "claims" or homesteads 
of goverimient hind, one in Hitchcock 
county, Nebraska, and the other in Chey- 
enne county, Kansas. At Wano in the lat- 
ter state she conducted an ice-cream parlor 
for a year. It was here also that she be- 
came the proprietor of a house and eleven 
lots, trading for this property a farm of 
eighty acres. But the town is now of the 
past, as when the railroad was constructed 
through that section it passed through Saint 
Francis, one mile east. By this important 
change the Rebos lost everything they then 
possessed. At Loop City, Nebraska, Mrs. 
Rebo earned a living by exercising her skill 
in dressmaking. 

The life of Mrs. Grace Relxi furnishes 
for her children and for all who read its 
history an example of constant, earnest and 
noble endeavor. All the hardships and 
heartbreaking trials of pioneer life have been 
hers to endure. In her travels over the 
western plains .she has suffered, even to 
tears, for a drink of water; she has fought 
the terrible prairie fire: in Hitchcock, Ne- 
braska, had her home torn from its founda- 
tions by cyclone; at Loop City in that state, 
suffered from visitations of terrific hail- 
storms and cloudburst; she has lived in a 
dug-out where, night after night, the only 
sound outside was the dismal howling of 
the coyote; has defended herself and family 
from rattlesnakes; has helped in the"round- 



192 BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 

up" of the cattle ranch, doing the hard work tainly there should belong a place on the 
that usually falls to the lot of a man. roll of the distinguished men of Keokuk, 

In 1900 she returned to Fort Madison Towa. In this class belongs Mr. Charles 
where she bought a house and three lots. Schultz. He was born at Kupferzell. W'urt- 
She also rents thirty-five acres of land, temberg, fiermany, November 13, 1839, the 
which she cultivates, hiring the necessary son of John Schultz, who was by trade a 
help. She keeps a half-dozen cows of the butcher and also was engaged in business 
finest Jersey stock, eligible for register, and as proprietor and manager of a hotel. The 
furnishes milk to customers. The products family landed at New York No\-ember 13, 
of the land are principally tomatoes, sweet 1^-51. and located at Philadelphia, where 

tlie father was employed in a bark shed, near 
the na\-y yard, until ]May 4, 1857, at which 
time they started west for Keokuk, arriving 
in this city May nth. Here the father was 



potatoes and peas, which are sold to a can- 
ning factory. On a tract of four acres she, 
this vear. raised 401 5-8 bushels of peas — 
the largest yield ever known in Lee county. 
Ey careful study and planning she has employed as a sausagemaker. His death 



brought the whole thirty-five-acre tract to 
a mar\elous degree of productiveness. It 
is excUisi\-eIy devoted to truck farming, and 
the success with which it is being operated 
should be an encouragement to others to 
make attempts in the same direction. On 



occurred in 1866. The mother, who was 
Susanna Schulz, also died in Keokuk. 

Charles Schulz is the only living rep- 
resentative of his father's family, although 
there were five brothers and sisters besides 
himself. He received his education in the 



Fel)ruary 24, 1901, Mrs. Rebo purchased public schools of Philadelphia, and in that 
her present home, giving her note for the city also he began his active career as an 
full amount. She owned at that time one employe in a factory which produced nails 
horse and one cow, and these were her en- and wooden letters and figures for sign let- 
tire assets. Since then her success has been tering. During the last two years of his 
phenomenal, and of her achievements she residence in Philadelphia he was employed 
has every reason to be proud. in a metallic-cap factory. On coming to 

Keokuk he began, in the summer of ^S^^j. 
to acquire the trade of cabinetmaking. 

, From 1859 to 1897 he combined his work 

with mercantile business, having established 
a high-class furniture store, but at the pres- 
CHARLES SCHULTZ. ^"^ ^^^ gives his time to his trade of cabinet- 

making. 
To one who has shown his readiness and July 7, 1863, Mr, Schulz married Miss 

ability to serve his community and his Barbara Schmied, daughter of John 
country in the walks of useful Indus- Schmied, and to them have been bom seven 
try and on the field of battle, cer- sons and daughters, all of whom are living. 







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LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



193 



Of these Lizzie, wife of Cliarles Sclimiilt, 
lives in Keokuk; Charles J. married .Miss 
Martha Weil, ilaiighter of Jacol) \\>il. and 
he is employed in a shoe factory in this city ; 
Minnie is the wife of Ed. Loewenstein. a 
traveling salesman of Keokuk ; Julia is the 
wife of Harry Wolf, of this place: -\nna 
married George Mayer, and has her home 
here, and Edward is at home with his father 
at the family residence. 1205 Exchange 
street, as is also Alhert C. 

^\'hcn the first call for volunteers was 
issued at the time of the Civil W'ar Cliarles 
Schulz enlisted in Company D, of the First 
Regiment Towa Volunteer Infantry, under 
Captain — afterward General — Mathies, and 
after going into camp at Keokuk was sent 
to Hannibal, Missouri, Macon City and 
Booneville, and thence to Springfield, Mis- 
souri, where he was engaged in the battle 
of Wilson's Creek, which was an extremely 
severe engagement in its consequences to 
the Union troops. Later he took part in 
several skirmishes but was shortly incapaci- 
tated hy illness from which he still con- 
tinues to suffer after the lapse of so many 
years, and was compelled to quit the service, 
having Iieen discharged about August 20th. 

Mr. Schulz is not without some of the 
tastes of the collector and virtuoso, antl 
among other articles of value he possesses 
a chiffonier that holds rather an odd and 
amusing interest on account of its peculiar 
dating, which reads: "Tschermantaun (Ger- 
mantown). Pa., \jy('>." The lettering is in 
German characters. 

A careful consideration of the basic prin- 
ciples of government early led our subject 
to affiliate himself with the Republican party, 



and he has acted with that organization all 
his life. He has never a.sked for office, but 
his popularity h.'is caused him to lie elected 
to various positions of trust in his township, 
among them that of township trustee. He 
is a consistent member of the German 
Evangelical church, and fniternallv he holds 
membership in the Independent Order of 
Odd Fellows, the Iowa Workmen, Knights 
of Honor and the Grand Army of the Re- 
public, in all of which he has held offices 
of honor. In the latter order he is a mem- 
ber of Torrence Post. He at one time 
organized two lodges of the Knights of 
P}-thias, but has since dropped his member- 
ship in that order. He is a self-made man 
in all senses of the word, and has a wide cir- 
cle of acquaintances and friends. He is 
truly a representative citizen. 



JOHN DE ROSEAR. 



John De Rosear, a representative of one 
of the old and highly honored pioneer 
families of Lee county, Iowa, was born 
.\pril 19, 1854, in Cedar township, the son 
of William De Rosear, a native of l-"rance. 
On coming to America William De Rosear 
first located in the State of Kentucky, and 
later remo\'ed to St. Louis, where he was 
united in ni:irriage to Miss Sarah .\nn 
P.ristow, who was born in London, Eng- 
land, and they came to Lee county, he pur- 
chasing a farm of 170 acres in Cedar town- 
ship, and it was there that his death oc- 



194 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



curred on June 25, 1892, and his wife died 
in October, 1895. He was a highly success- 
ful farmer, being possessed of unusual busi- 
ness ability, as well as of high moral quali- 
ties that made him esteemed and respected 
wherever known, and enjoyed in a marked 
degree the confidence of his fellow citizens, 
being elected to a number of township offi- 
ces, although he never sought public favor. 
He was a veteran of the Mexican War, and 
when the great war between the States cast 
its shadow over the land of his adoption, he 
enlisted in the year 1862 in the regiment 
known as the "Old Gray Beard." at Keo- 
kuk, and for a period of approximately three 
vears he fought the battles of liberty on 
Southern fields. He and his wife were the 
parents of fifteen sons and daughters, as fol- 
lows : Mary Jane, now deceased; Sarah, wife 
of James Nicholson, of California; William, 
of Colorado ; David and Jane, twins, of 
whom the former is a resident of Kansas 
and the latter of Colorado; John, our sub- 
ject ; Ellen, wife of Armenus Irwin, of Ring- 
gold county, Iowa; Alice, wife of M. 
Holmes, of Lee county; Isaac, of Lee 
county ; Clara Holmes, of Lee county ; 
James, of Arizona; Zephyr, deceased; Char- 
lotte Lunsford, of Illinois; Isabelle, de- 
ceased, and Albert, of Lee county. 

For his early education John De Rosear 
studied in the public .schools of Cedar town- 
ship, at the same time being engaged in the 
work of the home farm under the direction 
of his father and as his assistant, continuing 
in this occupation until about the year 1887, 
when he entered the employ of the United 
States government, and for sixteen years 



assisted in the operation of the guard lock 
of the Des Moines rapids canal. During this 
latter period he resided at Galland, but in 
October, 1903. he remoxed to Montrose, 
where he has engaged in the meat business, 
and at the present time is expecting to take 
up farming in a short time, for which pur- 
pose he will remove to Harrison township, 
where he owns a farm of eighty acres, as 
well as property in Galland and in Mont- 
rose. In this enterprise he will, no doubt, 
achieve the same success which has been 
his in other ventures, as he enjoys the ad- 
vantage of an early training in the work 
and also farmed independently for a num- 
ber of years in Cedar township with gratify- 
ing results after leaving his father's employ 
and before entering the government service. 
Mr. De Rosear has been a prominent 
worker in the Republican party in Lee 
count}', lia\ing a decided taste for affairs 
of a public nature, and for nine years was 
a member of the township board of trustees, 
and also has done much ty advance the wel- 
fare of the public schools in the capacity 
of director. Fraternally, he is a member 
of Cascade Lodge, No. 66, Independent Or- 
der of Odd Fellows of Montrose, in which 
he is Past Noble Grand and as whose rep- 
resentative he attended the Grand Lodge at 
Burlington in 1881, and he, with his wife, 
is a member of the local lodge of Daughters 
of Rebekah, in which Mrs. De Rosear has 
held official rank. He attends and supports 
the Presbyterian church of Harrison town- 
ship, and both his parents are buried in the 
Presbyterian cemetery at that place, which 
is universallv conceded to be the most care- 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



195 



fully maintained and most artistically ap- 
pointed cemetery in the State of Iowa, being 
supported by endowment. 

On February 19, 1880, at Galland. Towa, 
Mr. De Rosear was united in marriage to 
Miss Kmma Lyons, who was bom in Lee 
county, the daughter of David Lyons, a 
farmer of Montrose township. The mother 
of Mrs. Rosear, whose maiden name was 
Henrietta Young, was first married to Mr. 
L Bain, who died, leaving two children, and 
later she married Mr. Lvon. and thev are 
lioth now deceased, ha\ing flied several years 
ago. They were the parents of nine sons 
and daughters, of whom five are still living, 
as follows: George Lyons; Emma, wife of 
our subject: \\"arren Bain, and Ltta Johns 
and Viola Hemmingway. the latter two be- 
ing twins. To Mr. and Mrs. De Rosear have 
been born two -sons, these being David 
Everett, who died at the age of eighteen 
months, and Charles Earl, liorn September 
30. 1892. 



PATRICK H. FINERTY. 

I'alrick H. l-'incrty. a dealer in groceries 
and notions in Keokuk, who is also .serving 
as oil inspector by appointment of the gov- 
ernor, is one of the worthy citizens that 
Ireland has furnished to the new world and 
in his life record he displays the ready adapt- 
ability, executive force^and energetic char- 
acteristic of people of his race. His birth 
occurred in County Galway. Ireland. March 
14. 1S44. His father. Patrick Fincrtv, was 



a stone mason and contractor which occupa- 
tion he pursued until he retired from busi- 
ness life on account of advanced age. He 
wedded Mary Logan, also a native of Ire- 
land and his death occurred on the 9th of 
Alarch, 1876, while his wife passed away on 
the 26th of Januani', 1890, the remains of 
both being interred in (he Catholic ceme- 
tery. They were members of .St. Peter's 
Catholic church and in their familv- were 
four children: Mrs. Bridget McGrath; 
-Mary, the wife of H. J. :\Iills; John F.. de- 
ceased, and Patrick W. The li\ing members 
of tlie family are all residents of Keokuk. 
John F., the deceased brother, was a soldier 
of the Civil ^^^^r for four years and five 
months, serving with the gallant Second 
Towa Infantry, which stormed Fort Donel- 
son. He also went with Sherman on the 
celebrated march to the sea and participated 
in the grand review at W^ashington. fol- 
low ing the close of hostilities. 

Patrick H. Finerty was only three years 
of age at the time of his parents' emigration 
to the new world. They located first at 
Halifax. Nova Scotia, where they re- 
mained for eighteen months and then went 
to Maine, settling in the town of Gardner 
on the Kennebec river, where they passed 
se\en years. On the expiration of that 
period they removed to Madison. Indiana, 
but six mouths later came to Towa. arriving 
at Keokuk on the ist of April. 1855. Mr. 
Finerty accompanied his jiarents on these 
\-arious removals. He acquired his educa- 
tion in the public schools of Maine and in 
the i)ublic and parochial schools of Keokuk 
.and in 1858, when but fourteen years of age. 
he was apprenticed to learn the shoemaker's 



T96 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



trade, at which lie worked for a number of 
years. In 1869, however, he went to San 
Francisco by way of New York city, tlie 
Istlimus and up the Pacific. It was a de- 
h'ghtful trip and he was in Cahfornia at the 
time the completion of the Union Pacific 
Raih'oad was celebrated. He worked in 
San Francisco for about eiglit months as a 
cutter in a shoe store and then returned over 
the newly completed railroad. At that time 
he resumed work as a shoemaker in Keo- 
kuk, but again his labor in that direction 
was interrupted for in 1864, wlien twenty 
years of age, he responded to the call of his 
adopted country and enlisted at Keokuk as 
a member of Compan}' C, Forty-fifth Iowa 
Infantr}', under command of Capt. C. K. 
Peck and Col. A. H. Berr}man. He was 
too young to enlist at the outbreak of the 
war, but after he joined the army he dis- 
played his unfaltering loyalty to the govern- 
ment and the cause which he espoused. The 
regiment was attached to the Western Anny, 
forming a part of the Sixteenth Army Corps 
commanded by General W^ashburn. and was 
largely engaged in guard duty, holding forts 
and defending garrisons. It was for this 
purpose that the regiment was organized, it 
being intended that the Forty-fifth Iowa 
should take the place, in the garrisons, of 
the soldiers who went into battle. Mr. Fin- 
erty was in Gayosha House Hospital, at 
Memphis, Tennessee, for two weeks with 
typhoid fever contracted while in the swamp 
districts of Tennessee. He was then sent 
home by reason of the e.xpiration of his teriM 
of enlistment. .A.s a boy he had served in 
militia companies in Keokuk, during the 
turmoil on the Missouri border, these com- 



panies being (M-dered to stop any threatened 
invasion. 

Resuming his work at the shoemaker's 
trade. Mr. Finerty was thus engaged until 
1876, when he entered the employ of the 
Constitution Democrat as superintendent of 
the city circulation, acting in that capacity 
for four years. He then began clerking in 
a dry goods store for John Zerr, now of Fort 
Aladison, with whom he continued for four 
years and on the expiration of that period 
he entered the employ of Brinkman & Com- 
pany, dealers in dry goods. He was made 
manager of the dry goods department, con- 
tinued in the establishment for about twenty 
years and during much of the time was a 
partner. When this business was closed out 
Mr. Finerty spent six months with the Cen- 
tral Dry Goods Company and then on ac- 
count of failing health rested from further 
business labors for six months. In April, 
1900, howe\er, he established his grocerv' 
and notion store at 316 South Tenth 
street and has since carried on busi- 
ness. Here he has built up a good 
trade, having constantly enlarged his 
stock to meet the growing demands of 
his business. His long and practical e.x- 
perience in connection with mercantile in- 
terests had well (|ualified him to conduct 
an enterprise of this character and he is now 
meeting with \'ery gratifying success. For 
two years Mr. Finerty has also been deputy 
oil inspector through appointment of Gov- 
ernor Cummins. He was selected from out 
of ten applicants and he tests all the refined 
oil that is shipped to Keokuk, Fort Madi- 
son and Farmington. He tests by the car 
tank, visiting the different points regularly. 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



197 



][is principal business is with tlie Standard 
Oi! Company, of Keoknk. 

On the 2d of May, 1873. in Keokuk, Mr. 
I'inerty' was married by the Rev. Father 
Travis to ]\Iary R. Flood, who was born in 
Ha\erstraw. New York. August 4, 1853. 
She is of Irish descent, was reared in Keo- 
kuk and pursued her education here, at- 
tending the common schools and afterward 
St. Vincent's Academy. Unto Mr. and Mrs. 
Finertv have lieen born foiu" children who 
are \et li\ing: Mary Josephine, who was 
born March 7, 1876, and is now employed 
as a bookkeeper; Alice JuHa. who was born 
August 4, 1882. and assists her father in 
the store; Arthur Logan, born April 30, 
1892. and Leon Patrick, born February 28, 
1895. They also lost two children: Henry 
Francis, who was born April 10, 1874. and 
died October 20. 1878. and Clara Belle, 
born Jul}'* 26, 1884. and died February 2, 
1887. 

In his political views Mr. Finerty is a 
Republican. He l)elongs to the Catholic 
church, and is fraternally a member of the 
National Union, an insurance order. Dur- 
ing the past two years he has been a mem- 
ber of the Soldiers' Aid Commission, a 
county office secured by appointment of the 
county board. In 1903 this commission dis- 
bursed $1,740 in this locality among sol- 
diers who were ill or deserving, widows and 
orphans. This amount was secured from a 
fund raised by special taxation of four mills. 
The commission consists of three members 
and Mr. Finerty is now president of the 
board. He belongs to the Grand .\rmy of 
the Republic, in which he has served as 
commander. In his business career and in 
his public rmd private life there are many 



elements worthy of commendation and 
emulation. With no family or pecuniary ad- 
vantages to aid him when he started out in 
life, he has progressed through his own ef- 
forts and his utilization of circumstances 
and possibilities. He h;is long figured as a 
representative of commercial interests in 
Keokuk and is known for his straight- 
forward dealing in business and his reliabil- 
ity in discharging every public trust re- 
])()sed in him. He has a wide and favorable 
acquaintance in Kcukuk and ihroughout the 
county and manv friends esteem him for his 
genuine worth. 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN HAGERMAN. 

Benjamin Franklin Hagerman was born 
September 18, 1823. at Cool Springs, near 
Aldie. Loudoun county. Virginia. His 
father. Ca])t. Benj.amin Hagerman, was a 
|)roniinent man, and occupied a high rank 
in the Masonic order. The subject of this 
sketch came with his widowed mother and 
his sister to Missouri in 1833. settling first 
in Lewis and afterward in Clark county, 
and it was in the latter county tliat he was 
married, in 1848. to Miss .\nn Staunton 
Cowgill. a daughter of Missouri pioneers 
who had removed thither- from Kentucky. 
The legendary historj' of the Hagerman 
family relates that three brothers of the 
name emigrated from Holland and settled 
in New Jersey, whence one brother, and 
later another, removed to Virginia. 

Mr. Hagerman came to Keokuk in 1864, 



198 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



and here passed the remainder of a hfe rich 
in good deeds — a career whose reward was 
the en\-ia1)le reputation tliat crowns a beau- 
tiful character. His death occurred Febru- 
ary 6, 1900. The death of his wife pre- 
ceded his own, the date of her demise being 
August 19, 1897. Husband and wife were 
interred in Oakland cemetery, Keokuk. 

In his early days in Missouri Mr. Hager- 
man passed through all the hardships and 
vicissitudes of pioneer life, and was in turn 
■ farmer, school teacher, merchant, real estate 
and collecting agent and a large land-holder. 
He was a man of powerful mind and over- 
whelming forc-e of character — ^self-reliant, 
honest, brave, truthful, frank and unselfish, 
a true man, a majestic personality; to his 
family, kindred and friends, loving and de- 
voted. Upon his children he bestowed those 
advantages which he himself was not priv- 
ileged to enjoy. Three sons and one daugh- 
ter survive him. Of these, James, who was 
educated at Christian Brothers" College, is 
a resident of St. Louis. He is a member of 
the legal profession, and although a young 
man, is one of the leading lawyers of the 
West. He is president of the National Bar 
Association and general counsel for the Mis- 
souri, Kansas & Te.Kas Railway Company. 
Frank HageiTnan, of Kansas City, Mis- 
souri, the second son, is also eminent in 
the profession of law, and is adding to the 
glory of the family name. He is universally 
conceded to be one of the most brilliant law- 
yers ever produced west of the Alleghanies. 
George C. is a resident of Hot Springs, Ar- 
kansas, and Aliss Linnie Hagerman, the 
daughter of this accomplished and dis- 
tinguished family, makes her home in one 



of the most desirable and pleasant localities 
of Keokuk. She was educated at Visitation 
Convent, St. Louis, and is a woman of liter- 
ary tastes and accomplishments. 

Li politics Mr. Hagerman was a life- 
long Democrat, ever devoted to his party, 
its principles and its chosen leaders. He 
was one of the best-known citizens of Keo- 
kuk. He enjoyed the friendship and coii- 
lidence of a large number of eminent men , 
throughout the We.st, especially in Missouri 
and southern Iowa. The circle of his ac- 
quaintance was wide, and co-extensive there- 
with was the circle of those that honored 
him for what he was and no more. 



D. NELSON COON, M. D. 

The name of Dr. D. Nelson Coon is en- 
duringly inscribed on the pages of Lee 
county's history, for he located in this 
county at an early date, and has continued 
one of its most honored and valued residents 
until the ])rcsent time. His life has been 
devoted to labors wherein wealth and in- 
fluence are of little avail, the measure of suc- 
cess depending upon mentality, ability — 
both natural and acquired — and the broad 
culture of the individual. Pos,sessing all 
the requisite qualities of a physician. Dr. 
Coon advanced during his active career to 
a prominent place among thej'epresentatives 
of the medical fraternity in Lee county. 

A native of New "N'ork, he was born in 
Chenango county on ?^Iarch _'4, 1841. His 




D. NELSON COON, M. D. 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



20 1 



preliniin;ir\- LMlucatiiMi was (il)taine(l at tlie 
academy at He Ruyter. Xew York, a Sev- 
enth Day Baptist institution. On leaving 
the academy he resolved to take up the 
studv of medicine, and pursued courses of 
reading with various practitioners in the Em- 
pire state, as well as for a time in \\''isconsin, 
whither his ])arents had removed. During 
the years i8()0 and 1861 he attended the Col- 
lege of Physicians and Surgeons, in New 
York city, and in 1863 passed the examina- 
tion of the United States Medical Board, at 
Wasiiington, and was appointed hospital 
steward and acting assistant surgeon at 
Lincoln Hospital, of Washington, which 
position he held until the assassination of 
President Lincoln. He was then sent to 
Hart Island, in Xew York harbor, and con- 
tinued in the government service there until 
discharged in August, 1865. After some 
time spent at his home in Syracuse, New 
York, he removed, in 1866, to Green Bay, 
A\'isconsin, and there established himself in 
the practice of medicine, continuing at that 
place for about two years. At the expiration 
of that period he came to Iowa, locating at 
01in( then called Rome), and after a short 
stay there, and two years of residence at 
Carmen, Illinois, he removed, in 1875, to 
Fort Madison. The following year he be- 
gan the practice of medicine in this city, 
devoting himself to general practice, in 
which he was eminently successful. By his 
ability and In* his constant fidelity to the 
welfare of those who depended in times of 
need upon his knowledge and skill, 
he secured a great patronage, his serv- 
ices being in demand throughout a territory 
having a radius of fifteen to twenty miles in 



all directions from I'ort Madisf)n. This 
work he continued until 190-', when, on ac- 
count of failing health, he brought his active 
career to a close, and is now leading a re- 
tired life at his pleasant home in this city. 

Dr. Coon was married in 1878 to Miss 
Josephine Sprague, of Des Moines comity, 
Iowa, who died July 19, 1897, leaving two 
children: Harry, who was born in 1879, 
and is a professional musician, residing at 
Milwaukee. Wisconsin, and Esther, who is 
living with her father. He wedded on Sep- 
tember 12, 1899, as his second wife, Mrs. 
Emma Krehbiel, who was born at West 
Point, Lee county, the daughter of George 
Linhard, one of the early settlers of that 
place, now deceased. His death occurred 
five years ago, in his seventy-fifth year. He 
was a prominent and very prosperous 
farmer. Mrs. Coon, at the time of her 
second marriage, was the widow of Chris- 
tian \V. Krehbiel, and had one child, Elsie. 
Her mother, who has for the last seventeen 
years been an invalid, is still liviing, and 
resides at 140 1 Sixth street. Fort Madison. 
Air. and Mrs. Linhard ha\e alw;iys been 
members of the German Lutheran church. 

Dr. Coon is the son of .\bram and 
Esther (McCall) Coon. His father, who 
was a farmer, was born in the State of New 
York in 1804, and there remained until 1857, 
whence he removed to Fond du Lac, Wis- 
consin. He continued farming near that 
place until the time of his death, which oc- 
curred in his eightieth year. The mother 
of our' subject survived her husband, and 
died January i, 1903, age ninety-three years. 
Roth are interred at Fond du Lac. 

Dr. Coon is a memljer of the Christian 



202 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



church, and in his pohtical affihations has al- 
ways acted witli the Republican party. At 
one time he permitted the use of his name 
as a candidate for the legislature, but suf- 
fered defeat in common with the remainder 
of his ticket. For ten years he served the 
City of Fort Madison as city physician. He 
is a member and has held all the offices of 
James B. Sample Post, Grand Army of the 
Republic, of Fort A'ladison, and in his fra- 
ternal relaticMis he is similarly connected 
with the Bene\'olent and Protective Order 
of Elks. He is also an honorary member 
of Lee County Medical Association. 

Dr. Coon early qualified himself thor- 
oughly for the work of his profession, real- 
izing the great responsibility which devolves 
upon a physician. Moreo\er, he possesses 
a sympathetic, kindly nature that has 
prompted him to put forth every effort in his 
power to aid his fellowmen. All his strong 
traits of character are such as commend him 
to .the confidence and good will of the pub- 
lic, and he enjoys the warmest regard of all 
with whom he has associated. 



HENRY WENDE. 



Henry W^ende, who was for many years 
connected with the business interests of 
Keokuk, was bom November 15, 1833, in 
Germany, and there acc|uired his early edu- 
cation, attending school until his thi'rteenth 
year. Arrived at that age he formed the 
resolution, remarkable in one of such ten- 
der vears, to emigrate to America and make 



his own way in the new world without aid 
or encouragement from family or friends. 
.\ccordingly he set out alone, taking passage 
in a sailing vessel, and after a voyage of 
eight weeks' duration arrived in New Or- 
leans, whence lie proceeded to the City of 
St. Louis and began working at the trades 
of cabinetniaking and carpentering, con- 
tinuing there until 1849, '^vhen he removed 
to Quincy, Illinois. There he took up and 
pursued the trade of wagonmaking for a 
few yeai's, but desiring to secure a more de- 
sirable location, he again removed, in 1854, 
this time to Keokuk, Lee county, Iowa. 

In Keokuk i\Ir. Wende established a 
wagon shop at Thirteenth and Main streets^ 
where he continued in business for a period 
of twenty years, being ven,- successful and 
by his workmanlike skill, his integrity, up- 
rightness and straightforward methods in 
all his dealings attracting a large and profit- 
able patronage. As one of the pioneer 
wagonmakers of the West, he occupied a 
\'ery prominent position, was well known 
throughout a wide extent of territory, made 
many friends and contributed in a very im- 
portant degree to the development and more 
rapid upbuilding of the country in which 
he made his home. For a portion of this 
I>€riod he was associated in partnership with 
Jacob and Charles Frank, the firm being 
known as Wende & Frank, and for two 
years engaged with his partners in the manu- 
facture of plows, conducting quite an exten- 
si\e enterprise and sometimes employing as 
many as ten workmen simultaneously. Mr. 
Wende has been identified with many sig- 
nificant moveiuents in the history of the 
West since an earlv day, and recalls that 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



203 



liis iiiaiiutacturing enterprise in Keokuk re- 
ceived a substantial impetus from the dis- 
covePt" of gold in California and the result- 
ing emigration ti> that place. He built 
many of the famous "prairie schooners" in 
which the argonauts of '49 crossed 
the continent of North America to pluck 
wealth and untold treasure from the moun- 
tains and streams along the golden shores 
of tlie Pacific ocean. For one man he built 
a train of twelve wagons, using extra heavy 
construction on account of the length and 
difficulty of the journey. 

In 1882 he disposed of his shop and ac- 
quired his present farm of forty acres on sec- 
tion 21. Jackson township, where he has 
since continuetl to reside, conducting ger.- 
eral farming operations and working at his 
trade in a small way, building a few wagons 
and doing a great deal of repair work, being 
still in the full enjoyment of all his faculties 
and remarkably vigorous and acti\e for one 
of his years. Mr. W'ende was married at 
Ouincy, Illinois, in 1854, to Miss Amelia 
Lang, who was also of German birth, and to 
them were born se\en daughters who still 
survive. They are: Ivatlierine, wife of 
Henry Peters: Mollie. widow of Leonard 
Siebold. of Keokuk; Minnie, wife of George 
S. Merriam. of Kedkuk; Etta; Cora, who 
has been for five years a teacher in the 
public schools of Keokuk; Emma, who is 
acting as clerk in a store at Keokuk, and 
Elizabeth, who married O. F. Peterson, of 
Keokuk, Iowa. Three sons and one daugh- 
ter are decease<l, ami the mf)ther of the fam- 
ily passed to her eternal rest on the ist of 
April, 1893, and is buried in Oakland ceme- 
tery. She preserved throughout her life the 
quiet beauty of a true Christian character, 



and left many friends who deplore her loss. 
Mr. \\'ende was formerly an active mem- 
ber of the (jerman Lutheran church of Keo- 
kuk, and assisted in the actual w^ork of con- 
structing the present church building, Ijeing 
at the time of its erection one of the four 
trustees of the church and at present the 
only one of the four living. He has always 
been interested in public affairs, and believ- 
ing it to be the duty of the private citizens to 
bear a share in the work of government, he 
has made a study of political questions, and 
in matters of public polity has acted with 
the Democratic party. While never aspir- 
ing to political office, he has shown a wil- 
lingness to accept the responsibilities of 
puljlic trusts, and since removing to Jack- 
son township has acted as school director at 
the solicitation of friends. His life has been 
one long exposition of business and personal 
rectitude in its highest forms, and furnishes 
an excellent chapter of proof that the prac- 
tice of these virtues is no bar to the achieve- 
ment of success in the best sense of the term. 
A self-made man, he has worked his way 
from humble beginnings to a position of 
honor in the community, and enjoys the re- 
spect of many friends, who value him for 
the strength and sincerity of his character. 



ST. JOSEPH'S CATHOLIC CHURCH. 

The history of the Catholic church in 
Fort Madison runs far back into the midst 

of the years, and begins with ancient and 



204 



BIOGRAPHICAL REV I El V 



honored names. Here came Father Mar- 
quette in 1673. On the 17th day of June, 
of that year, his eyes first rested on the 
waters of the Mississippi river, at the mouth 
of the Wisconsin river. Floating down the 
stream on the 25th day of the same month 
he reached what is now Lee county. Iowa, 
and here lie spent six days. He was fol- 
lowed by Father Hennepin in 1680. No 
doubt there were others, ardent and impul- 
sive spirits, consecrated to the church and 
devoted to the cross, to penetrate the wilder- 
ness, and ])roclaim the victorious Christ. 
Historv is silent, however, as to their names 
and deeds, and it was until Father Mazzu- 
chelli said mass in Fort Madison in 1839 
that the stoiy of the Catholic church in 
that city may be said to really begin. The 
same year mass was celebrated by Father 
Broedwegge. 

The first resident priest in Fort Madison 
Avas Father J. G. .Vllemaiin. who came here 
in 1840. At that time he was the onl}' priest 
within a hundred miles and his work was 
to gather into the fold the various Catholic 
families scattered through a wide range. 
Where\er the number w(iuld warrant he 
established churches and schools. He was 
a generous and kind-hearted man, and would 
divide his last farthing with any one who 
would ask assistance. He built a small briclc 
church, si.xteen feet scpiare, on tlie propert}' 
where now stands the spacious and attract- 
ive edifice occupied by St. Joseph's congre- 
gation. He built again in 1844, this time 
the church i)eing 30x50 feet. To this struc- 
ture l\'ither 1 lattenberger made an extensive 
addition in 1854. In 1886 the present 
church building was erected under the pas- 



torate of Father Louis DeCailly, a native of 
France, and the pastor of the congregation 
from 1884 to 1898. when he was killed in a 
railroad accident. He left behind him in- 
spiring memories as a man greatly devoted 
to his sacred calling. L'nder his adminis- 
tration the present structure was erected, 
and it is expected that it will shortly be 
greatly enlarged and beautified. 

The following priests have officiated in 
St. Joseph's church : Fathers Allemann. 
Hattenberger, Michael, Weikmann, Orth. 
Gane, Greiser. DeCailly and Father Zaiser. 
who is now its rector. 

The parish has from its I^eginning main- 
tained a school, which is now under the 
management of the Sisters of Humility, of 
OtttuTiwa, Iowa. Five Sisters act as teach- 
ers of the various grades. The school has 
always been highly regarded b}- the public, 
and during its more than sixty years of his- 
tory has had an extended patronage. 

Associated with St. Joseph's church are 
some of the most prominent families of Fort 
Madison, and it is noted for its liberality in 
all good works and beneficial undertakings. 



THE REV. FATHER ARTHUR J. ZAISER. 

b'ather .\rthur J. Zaiser, pastoi- of St. 
Joseph's church in Fort Madison, Iowa, is 
a worthy successor of those consecrated and 
devoted clerg}'nien who have given their 
lives to the cause of Christ as exemplified in 
the work of this noble church. The priest- 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



205 



hood is a great calling, and its interests 
were never more transcendant than at the 
present time when socialism, atheism and 
materialism are making for the ravage of 
society. Ti:e Catholic priest occupies an 
especially onerous and responsihle position. 
.\s a faitiiful shepherd, he must guard his 
people nut onlv against the wiles f)f e\il 
hahits, protect them against the insidious 
temptations of luxury and selfish ease, and 
point them to the better life it is possible 
for them to li\e, but expose to them also the 
dangers of modern intellectual conceit and 
skepticism which mock at religion and de- 
cry all authority. He is a sentinel upon the 
outer wall, and his vigilant eye must sweep 
eserv point of danger. In this vast work, 
so pressing upon the modern priest. Father 
Zaiser is by no means incompetent or un- 
ready. In his own pulpit he is heard with 
reverent afifection, and in the city he is a 
leader in every good work and noble enter- 
prise. Father Zaiser was born near Quincy, 
Illinois, January 25. 1862, a son of John and 
^largaret (Funk) Zaiser, who are now resi- 
dents of Burlington, Iowa. To that city 
the subject of this sketch was taken by his 
parents w'hen he was only five years of age, 
and here he received his first instruction in 
a private Methodist institution, which he at- 
tended from the age of seven years until he 
was ten. .\t that age he entered the Bur- 
lington public school, graduating from the 
higli school of the city when he was si.xteen. 
For three years following he was a student 
in the \\'esle\an University at Mt. Pleas.uit, 
Iowa, after which he taught instrumental 
music for a year or more. This was in 1880 
and 1 88 1. For another year he was em- 



ployed in a bank at Burlington, Iowa. 
After this, he was mined by great consider- 
ations, ;uid seeking the Catliolic priesthood 
as ;i life profession, he entered the Jesuit 
e'ollege at Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, 
w here he spent four years in tlie study of 
the classics. Another year was spent in 
the Jesuit College, Buffalo, Xew York, 
where he devoted himself to the study of 
philosophy. Three years were spent by him 
at St. Francis Theological Seminary, a 
noted institution of the church at Milwau- 
kee, and there he made a special studv of 
theology in its various divisions. There he 
was admitted, to the priesthood, being or- 
dained l)y the Most Reverend Archbishop 
Katzer, now of saintly memory, and as- 
signed to the teaching of language and 
mathematics in St. Ambrose College, Daven- 
port, Iowa. There he remained three years, 
and was then assigned to a new work at Ex- 
ira. Iowa, there being called upon to establish 
a i)arisii from the very beginning. In this 
work he was quite successful and gathering 
a new congregation, erected a handsome 
church and school and drawing to the new 
l)arisli the friendly attention of the com- 
munity in a marked degree. In 1898, when 
a pastor was needed at Fort Madison, to 
succeed the lamented Father DeCailly. his 
zeal and tlevotion marked him as a fit man 
to take up this work. He was accordingly 
called to Fort Madi.son, and the work put 
into his hands. It is no flattery to say that 
from the first his success has been pro- 
nounced and immediate. As a preacher his 
sermons are simple antl clear, enunciating 
the great centra! truths of the church : and 
as a pastor and administrator of all the va- 



2o6 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



ried interests of the parish his work is 
beyond criticism. In the city at large he is 
regarded as a public-spirited citizen, who 
may he depended upon to help every good 
cause. He was largely instrumental in the 
establishment of St. Elizabeth's Hospital, one 
of the humane enterprises of the church, 
which has done much good and was opened 
September, 1901, being under the auspices 
of the Franciscan Sisters. The hospital is 
located at the corner of Third street and 
Broadway, and is very efficient in its work. 
Father Zaiser is a pleasant and courteous 
gentleman, after the maniier of his profes- 
sion and well sustains the dignity of his 
sacred calling. 



THOMAS H. JOHNSON. 

One of the more distinguished members 
of the bar in southern Iowa, widely known 
l»y reason of professional standing and long 
public service, is the subject of this review, 
who is at the present time county attorney 
of Lee county. Mr. Johnson was born at 
Bonaparte, Iowa, March 29, 1858, the son 
of William J. and Mary J- (Christy) John- 
son. His parents were natives of Ohio, and 
in Bonaparte his father was for a time a 
miller and merchant, but is now engaged in 
banking, in association with one of his sons, 
J. A. Johnson. They conduct the Farmers' 
and Traders' State Bank of Iowa. The 
mother died in 1899. 



Mr. Johnson is one of a family of four 
brothers and four sisters, as follows : James 
J., who died at the age of eighteen years; 
Mrs. Nannie B. Warde, of Chicago; Mrs. 
Clara J. Smith, of Keosauqua, Iowa ; Mrs. 
Maggie Meek, of Denver; Miss Ella M., 
who died at tlie age of thirty-four; Thomas 
J., our subject: Joseph A., of Bonaparte, 
Iowa, bank cashier, and George B., of Fort 
Worth, Texas, for twenty-one years train 
dispatcher for the [Missouri, Kansas & 
Texas Railway Company. 

In 1873, 'it the early age of fifteen years, 
Mr. Johnson was graduated from Howe's 
Academy, at Bonaparte, and in further prep- 
aration for a life of useful activity immedi- 
ately began a special academic course of 
two years' study in Iowa State University, 
at Iowa City. His university course com- 
pleted, he returned to Bonaparte in 1875, 
and engaged, together \\ith his brother-in- 
law, George F. Smith, in the publication of 
the Van Buren Democrat, continuing in 
this work for nine years. He began with 
the duties of an apprentice in the mechanical 
department, familiarizing himself with the 
business in all its details, and at the time of 
severing his connection with the paper had 
attained to the position of manager. 

While engaged in newspaper work at 
Bonaparte he continued his studies, reading 
law with the law firm of Knapp, Lea & 
Beaman, of Keosauqua, and in 1882 was ad- 
mitted to the bar. In 1885 he removed to 
W'est Point, Lee county, where he estab- 
lished himself in the practice of law. also 
assisting for a time in the publication of 
the West Point Appeal. His residence in 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



207 



l"-ort Madison dates from 1890, when he re- 
mo\ed from West Point to this city. Here 
snccess and honors liave licen his to enjoy. 
For six years lie was cil_\- attorney for the 
municii)ahty of Fort Madison, for a similar 
periotl he acted as assistant county attorney, 
and he has served Lee county four years 
as county attorney. The city also claimed 
his services for six years as a member of 
the board of education. 

In politics Mr. Johnson is a thorough- 
going Democrat, and in every political con- 
test that has arisen within the borders of 
Lee county for the last fifteen years, or 
during the whole time of his residence here, 
he has never failed to advocate the prin- 
ciples of the party from the stump, and to 
hold n\) the hands of her chosen leaders. 
A natural orator and a profound student, 
his services along this line are always in de- 
mand. And in the more obscure but no 
less useful work of the caucus and the con- 
\entii>n his aid and counsel are valuable. 
He has served as alternate delegate to the 
national Democratic convention, and has 
many times acted as delegate to the state 
and congressional conventions, often serv- 
ing as ch;u'rm:in of the latter. Twice he has 
presided over the county conventirin, and 
for the last seven years has been central 
committeeman for the Third ward. In the 
Democratic state convention of 1903 he 
was a member of the committee on resolu- 
tions. His interest in politics is eminently 
practical, while at the same time directed 
toward the attainment of higher ideals of 
government. 

Mr. Johnson is a member of the First 
Presbyterian church, and fraternally he is 



connected with the Benevolent and Pro- 
tective Order of Elks, of which he has held 
the chair two terms; the .\ncient Order 
of United Workmen, holding in this order 
the rank of Past Master Workman, and the 
Loyal Americans. 

On his twenty-fourth birthday, March 
jy, 1882, Air. Johnson was united in mar- 
riage with Miss Beatrice E. Strickling, of 
Keosauqua, Iowa. She is the daughter of 
the late Judge Henry Strickling, for two 
terms county judge of Van Buren county, 
.prominent in the Masonic order, and highly 
esteemed as a judge, as a physician and as 
a man. He died in 1902. The mother, who 
was Sarah .A. (T^inkead) Strickling, died in 
1S77, and rests in the Keosauqua cemetery. 
Both were members of the Methodist Episco- 
pal church. The date of Mrs. Johnson's 
liirth is January 11, 1858. 

Unto Mr. and Mrs. Johnson have been 
born two children, a son and a daughter. 
Daisy M., born October 22, 1883, is acting 
as stenographer in her father's law offices, 
and William Harry, born March 12, 1885, 
is city editor of the Gem City, of Fort Madi- 
son. Both are graduates of Fort Madison 
high school. 

Tf it is true, as it probably is, th.at suc- 
cess in the learned professions depends solely 
upon talent and individual merit, Thomas 
H. Johnson has demonstrated that he is 
the possessor of natural gifts of a high order, 
and a genial disposition and pleasing man- 
ner, combined with the elemental strength 
of his character have made for him many 
friends and admirers in Lee county, as well 
as in the larger fields of action in which 
he is known. 



208 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



Mr. Johnson passed away some time 
after this sketch was written, September 25, 
1904, and was buried at Bonaparte, Iowa. 



EUGENE LA BARRON MATTESON. 

Peace of mind and a contented spirit 
belong to the farm. Close to the heart of 
nature may be found true wisdom, and in 
the tillage of the fields may be nurtured the 
noblest philosophy of life. Under the 
shadow of the great trees with the blue 
skies above, and the waving grain before 
the eye, there is little room for envy and 
bitterness. The country life is good for the 
largeness of the soul and helps men culti- 
vate and strengthen the things that belong 
to God and immortality and the free soul. 
More and more does it become evident that 
the men of this generation who keep close 
to the soil are wise. They escape the heart 
worry and the nerve exhaustion the strenu- 
ous and utter abandon to business cares and 
interests that so strongly characterize the 
present life ; and while no less earnestly la- 
boring in their appointed fields of work, do 
so in that steadiness and patience that make 
men strong and mighty in their day. 

Eugene La Barron Matteson, whose 
name introduces this article, is a good illus- 
tration of the wise farmer and the upright 
citizen, who prefers the airs of nature and 
the fragrant odors of the meadow to the 
turmoil and commotions of the city pave- 
ment. He is an honorable and successful 



farmer, and is widely regarded as a good 
citizen and a man of unimpeachable char- 
acter. 

Mr. Matteson, whose pleasant and spa- 
cious residence is on his farm in section 4, 
Green Bay township, Lee county, was born 
at Central Falls, Rhode Island, July 3, 1847, 
a son of Isaac A. and Joan (Gage) Mat- 
teson. The father is known as one of the 
early settlers of Lee county, coming into 
this part of Iowa as early as 1854, when he 
secured a fine farm of 240 acres in section 
4, of Green Bay township. He was bom 
in East Greenwich, Rhode Island. .April 14, 
1 819, and was a son of Greene and Sallie 
(Fowler) Matteson, both natives of Rhode 
Island, v.here they spent their entire lives. 
They were the parents of a family of eleven 
children, of whom Isaac A. was the fourth 
in order of birth. When he was a boy he 
became an employe of the cotton and woolen 
mills in his native town, ;md there continued 
at work until he reached the age of twenty- 
six years. His tastes were for a more open 
and out-of-door life, and he became a car- 
penter and machinist, in which occupation 
he rose to positions of trust and responsi- 
bility, soon attaining place as a foreman in 
railroad bridge construction. In this work 
he continued until 1851, when he removed 
to the West. W'hile constructing two or 
three bridges he spent a year in Chicago, 
then giving but little promise of its future 
greatness. The following year Mr. Mat- 
teson went on to Kankakee, where he con- 
structed a railroad bridge. Returning to 
Chicago, where he stayed until 1854, when 
he came into Lee county, where he bought 
his farm and on which he spent his remain- 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



209 



ing years, with the exception of a period of 
three years, when he was a resident of Fort 
Madison. When he made his first purchase 
of land he contracted for 240 acres, hut part 
of this he later sold. 

Isaac A. Matteson was married in South- 
field, Rhode Island, May 20, 1840. to JMiss 
Joan Gage, a daughter of Benjamin and 
Isabella (^Randall) Gage, natives of Mas- 
sachusetts and Rhode Island, respectively. 
She was horn in CransliMi. October 22. 1818. 
and was the mother of one child, Eugene La 
Barron. Mr. Matteson was appointed a 
member of the county board of supervisors 
in 1883. and was re-elected for three sue 
cessi\e terms. He filled the office of jus- 
tice of the peace for many years, and was 
called upon from time to time to fill other 
minor positions. In politics he was a Demo- 
crat, and enjoyed more than a local reputa- 
tion as an upright citizen. His death oc- 
curred February 9, 1899, his wife having 
passed to her rest October 11, 1887. 

Eugene La Barron Matteson was edu- 
cated in the public schools, and in a com- 
mercial school at Fort Madison, which he 
attended one winter. He remained at home 
until 1880. That year he went to Colo- 
rado, where he found a profitable business in 
the gi'ld and silver mines. I'V)r three vears 
he remained in that state, and then returned 
to his Iowa home, having met with very 
fair success in his western ventures. 

Mr. Matteson was married in 1867 to 
Miss Eliza Speaks, a daughter of Thomas 
and Sarah (Flaynes) Speaks. Mrs. Speaks 
is still living, and has her home with her 
daughter, Mrs. Matteson. She has reached 
the age of ninety-four years, and is a bright 



and well-preser\cd old lady. To Mr. and 
Mrs. Matteson have been born two children : 
Joan, who married Frank Farnsworth, and 
has her home in Denmark township; and 
.\ri(Mi, who married Miss Nettie Osborn, 
and still has his home with his father. 

Mr. Matteson is nuich interested in 
stiick farming. In this line he has done a 
large business, and is known far and wide 
as a reliable and trusty dealer. Politically 
he is a Democrat, and is an intelligent and 
thoughtful student of the times, preferring, 
however, to follow the peaceful avocation 
of agriculture to the turmoil and disturbance 
of active political cares and ambitions. The 
farm to him is a field large enough for all 
noble aspirations, and he has liveil in the 
enjoyment of the full privileges of the mod- 
ern agriculturist, studious, public-spirited 
and industrious. He is wide-awake and en- 
terprising, read}- for business at any time. 
and keeping his hands clean and clear of 
taint in all transactions. 



WILLIAM OLDENBURG. 

William Oldenburg was a resident of 
Keokuk the greater part of his long life, 
was well known to the majority of her peo- 
ple, and was closely associated with many 
of the men who played the most important 
parts in her histor}'. He was torn at St. 
Louis, October 22, 1832, of a family belong- 
ing to the religious body known as Pennsyl- 
vania Quakers, although his father was a 



2IO 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



native of Oldenburg, Germany. Mr. Olden- 
burg, the sul^ject of our sketch, removed to 
Keokuk with his parents on April i, iSj^i, 
five years before the admission of the ter- 
ritory to the Union as the State of Iowa, 
and received his education in tlie public 
schools, was the schoolmate of George E. 
Kilbourne, Frank McGavic and many others 
whose names were in after years linked with 
the development of the city and county. 
Being very am))itious, he began at the early 
age of fourteen years to fit himself for his 
work in life, and took up the profession of 
steamboat engineering, a field of endeavor 
which in that pioneer community was very 
well calculated to appeal to the adventurous 
and enterprising instincts of aspiring youth, 
and \\hich offered pecuniary rewards of 
tempting proportions. 

I\Tr. Oldenburg progressed rapidly in ac- 
rpiiring knowledge and skill in his chosen 
work, which he continued to follow for a 
great many years, and had a vast and varied 
experience, being employed on most of the 
principal boats plying on the Mississippi 
river, working below St. I.ouis in the win- 
ter season and on the upper course of the 
river in the summer. During the Civil War 
he was often engaged in transporting United 
States troops, and in many other ways was 
connected with imp(~irtant and interesting 
events and movements in the history of the 
West and the nation. For a period of four 
or five years subsequent to 1877 he was half 
owner of the steamer "Plowboy," which 
plied between Keokuk and Warsaw, making 
three trips daily, and in this enterprise he 
had very gratifying success, and added very 
considerably to the small fortune which he 



had amassed by his previous efforts. In- 
deed, he proved himself in all he undertook 
to be the possessor of sound business judg- 
ment and foresight, and also exhibited 
qualities of absolute faithfulness and recti- 
tude in all positions which he was called 
upon to occupy. For sixteen years he was 
in the employ of the national government, 
and these qualities gained for him the 
praise and regard of his official superiors, 
as they gained for him the trust and admira- 
tion of all who came into contact with his 
personality in the various relations of life. 
His later years were spent in retirement 
from active business, and during this time 
he resided in Keokuk, where he enjoyed the 
comforts of his pleasant home and the so- 
ciety of his many warm friends. Here he 
owned residence property, but contracted 
no new business relations. A year before 
his death he had the misfortune to be over- 
come by heat, from the effects of which he 
never recovered, and he died September 17, 
1902, his mortal remains being laid at rest 
in Oakland cemetery. 

Mr. Oldenburg never neglected the du- 
ties of citizenship, and while he did not 
consider it within his proper province to 
seek public office, he was a consistent mem- 
ber of the Democratic party, and gave to 
that organization his unfailing support in 
all matters of importance. He was also a 
believer in fraternal societies, and was en- 
thusiastically devoted to the work of Odd- 
fellowship, being for thirty-five years a 
member of Puckechetuck Lodge of In- 
dependent Order of Odd Fellows. He was 
twice married, first at Middieton, Missouri, 
in 1856, to Miss Sarah Jane Hogue, who 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



211 



died in 1870, leaving three daughters, Mrs. 
Leola A. Lucas, of WHiitewater, Colorado ; 
Mrs. Mollie F. AIcGrew, of Denver, Il- 
linois, and Mrs. Willie Cornelia Shoel, of 
Keokuk. In 1875 he wedded at Monterey, 
Kentucky, Miss Sarah Isabella Sparks, who 
survives him, and continues to reside at the 
family Imme overlooking the Mississipiii 
river, at Xo. 102 Concert street, Keokuk. 
Mrs. Oldenburg is a daughter of Ivison 
Sparks, who was born in Owen county, 
Kentucky, and died there at the age of 
fifty-se\-en years, and his wife, Mary (Cal- 
vert) Sparks, whose death occurred in Owen 
county in the thirty-third year of her age. 
She came west when only eight years old, 
making her home with her brother-in-law, 
E. Hardin, and pursuing her education in 
the public schools, but returned to Owen 
county, Kentucky, in 1868, and there re- 
mained until her marriage, which was cele- 
brated at her brother's residence, the old 
home of the family. She then came with 
her husband to Keokuk, where she has since 
resided, and here she has witnessed many 
of the improvements which have made the 
city what it is at the present time, it even 
having been her good fortune to see the 
first railroad train cross the MississipjM 
river at this point — an event of historical 
significance. She has also borne a promin- 
ent part in social affairs in Keokuk, and is 
a member of Colfax Lodge, No. 4, Daugh- 
ters of Rebekah, in which she has occupied 
all the positions of honor, and has also at- 
tended meetings of the Grand Lodge at 
Burlington and at Keokuk. A pleasant lady 
of gracious presence and unusual aljility, her 
friends in Keokuk are manv. 



WILLIAM H. NEWLON, M. D. 

Dr. William H. Newlon, a man of 
rare capacity, whose intense and well- 
directed activity and strong intellec- 
tual force have made- him one of the 
ablest representatives of the medical 
fraternity in Fort Madison and Lee 
county, was reared in an environment which 
fostered any natural predilection or inher- 
ited tendency which he may have had for 
the i)ractice. His father. Dr. Benjamin 
I'ranklin Xewlon figured for many years as 
one of the prominent early physicians of Illi- 
nois and not only along professional lines, 
but also in many other ways did he prove an 
active and helpful factor in community in- 
terests. He was born in Louisville, Ken- 
tucky, July 27, 1833, and during his infancy 
his parents removed to Edgar county, Illi- 
nois, establishing their home near Paris, 
where he was reared. Ilis literary educa- 
tion was completed by study in the Edgar 
County Academy, and he began prepara- 
tion for the practice of medicine in Peoria, 
Illinois, with Dr. Shubal York as his pre- 
ceptor. He was one of the few graduate 
physicians of the \\^est at an early day, and 
after completing his reading he located for 
practice in Hancock county, Illinois, in 
1843. About two years later, in 1847, he 
.settled at Dallas City and practically became 
one of the founders of that town. He 
entered into partnership with his elder 
brother, Dr. John F. Newlon, and the busi- 
ness relation between them was continued 
for five years, after which Dr. 15. F. New- 
lon was alone in business. He was one of 
the most capable and therefore one of the 



212 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



most successful of the pioneer physicians of 
western Ilhnois, and he enjoyed a very large 
and important practice until 1862, when his 
health failed him and he temporarily put 
aside the arduous duties of the profession. 
On recovering his health he entered into a 
partnership with the younger brother. Dr. 
William S. Xewlon, which was maintained 
for five years. 

Dr. Benjamin F. Xewlon was a moving 
spirit in many of the enterprises which led 
to the substantial improvement and upljuild- 
ing of Dallas City. He was present when 
the town was surveyed and laid out, and he 
wrote the charter of the city, and in connec- 
tion with Colonel Rolloson, in 1859. went to 
Springfield, in order to secure its passage 
through the legislature, which mission he 
successfully accomplished. He also pre- 
pared the ordinance of the city when it was 
first chartered: was chosen its first mayor, 
serving for two years, and for five terms 
was supervisor. His political supj^ort was 
given the Democracy, and he labored earn- 
estly for the advancement of the party's 
growth. .\s a Mason he also won more 
than local distinction. He was the founder 
of Dallas City Lodge, No. 235, Free and 
-Accepted Masons, and its first Worthv Mas- 
ter, occupying that position for manv years. 
He was also a charter member of Dallas 
Chapter, No. in. Royal Arch Masons; was 
its High Priest and was District Deputy 
Grand Master, and a representative to both 
the Grand Fodge and the Grand Chapter. 
He had comprehensive and accurate knowl- 
edge of Masonry, its teachings and its 
tenets, and did much to inculcate its benefi- 
cent spirit -among his fellow townsmen. At 



one time he edited the Dallas City Democrat. 
and was a frequent correspondent for pub- 
lications of the country, his articles appear- 
ing under the non de plume of Don Osso, be- 
ing greatly appreciated by the reading pub- 
lic. He held membership in the Universalist 
church, and thus his activities touched al- 
most every line affecting the general inter- 
ests of society in his part of the state. He 
yet managed his professional and business 
interest most successfully and accumulated a 
large amount of jiroperty. although at a 
later date he met with financial reverses. 

Dr. Newlon was married three times, 
first to Mary W'alker, of Dallas City, who 
died within a year; afterward to Alniira A. 
Richards, who at her death, left three 
daughters and a son;. and third, to Mrs. 
Katherine McCarty. daughter of James 
Gassaway, of Dallas City, by whom he had 
a son and daughter. His living children are : 
Hattie. now the widow of Dr. W. V. Eng- 
lish and a teacher in the schools of Keokuk; 
Melissa, wife of C. Lee, of Berkeley, Cali- 
fornia; William H. ; Benjamin F.. a phy- 
sician of Leger. Oklahoma, and Katherine. 
wife of R. C. Barnett, of Kansas City. Dr. 
Newlon died ALarch 2. 1882. and was sur- 
vived by his widow for two years. The 
mother of our subject was a Methodist. 

Dr. William Fl. Newlon, who was liorn 
in Flancock county, Illinois, November 10, 
1862, began his education in the public 
schools of Dallas City, and suiiplemented his 
preliniinaiy advantages by study in the 
Dallas .Vcadeniy. Interested in the practice 
of medicine from early boyhood because of 
his father's connection with the profession 
he pursued his early professional studies 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



213 



under the direction of his father, but liis 
course in medicine was not continuous, ow- 
ing; to his financial circumstances, whicli 
nia<le it necessiirv that he jjroN'idc tlie moans 
for continuintf liis echication. After leav- 
ing school he ens^aged in clerking for a time 
and witli his earnings defrayed his college 
expenses, for in the meantime his father had 
met with business reverses, and the son 
was forced to start out in life without finan- 
cial assistance. Matriculating in the College 
of Physicians and Surgeons, of Keokuk. 
Iowa. Dr. Xewlun was graduated with the 
class of 1890. and soon located for practice 
in Fort Madison, Iowa, where he soon se- 
cured a good patronage and his business has 
since been increasing in volume and import- 
ance. He is also registered to practice in 
several states in addition to Towa. including 
Illinois, Missouri, Kansas and Oklahoma. 
He belongs to the Lee County Medical So- 
ciety, the Missouri Valley Medical Associa- 
tion, the Tri-State ^^ledical Society, the 
Atchison. Topeka & Santa ¥t Medical and 
Surgical Society, and is local surgeon for 
the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe R.iilroad 
Company, and surgeon in charge of its dis- 
pensary. He is also examiner for a" large 
number of the most reliable old-line insur- 
ance companies. His office is a very fine 
suite of rooms, Nos. 12. 13, 14 and 75, in 
the Lee County Savings Bank Building, and 
in addition to this the Doctor has large prop- 
erty interests in Fort Madison, including a 
beautiful residence at the corner of Market 
and Third streets. 

On the 13th of March. 1895, Dr. Xew- 
lon was married to Miss Mary Hbgebf>oni. 
of 'I'opeka, Kansas, a daughter of Dr. George 



W. and Sophia ( Buckmaster) Hogeboom. 
Her father was born in Northampton. Ful- 
ton county. New York, in 183J, and in earlv 
youth his educational privilege was limited 
to three months' attendance annually at the 
common schools. At the age of thirteen 
he entered Kingsboro .\cademy, where he 
prepared for college, and then engaged in 
teaching in order to meet the expenses of 
a course in the Berkshire Medical College. 
of Pittsfield, Massachusetts, from which he 
graduated in 1853, when twenty-one years 
of age. He became a practitioner at Glovers- 
\ille. Xew York, where he remained imtil 
failing health compelled him to .seek a 
change of climate, and in May, 1857, he re- 
moved to Leavenworth, Kansas, which place 
he called his home for eight vears, but dur- 
ing ti\e years of that time he served as as- 
sistant surgeon of the FJghth Kansas In- 
fantry and surgeon of the Kleventh Kansas 
Regiment, in the Civil War. In 1863 he 
w.is conimissioned by President Lincoln as 
staff surgeon, with the rank of major, and 
at the close of the war he was brevetted lieu- 
tenant-colonel for faithful and merito.rions 
ser\-ice. 

Dr. Hogeboom removed to Oskaloosa, 
Jefferson county, Kansas, in 1866, and \vhile 
engaged in practice there also figured prom- 
inently in public affairs affecting not only 
the connnunity, but also having marked in- 
fluence upon the welfare of the state. In 
1869 he was chosen .state senator by ]5opular 
suffrage for a term of two years, and in 
1878 was elected 'to the house of rei)resenta- 
tives. He then removed to Topeka, and un- 
til his retirement from professional life was 
accounted one of the most prominent and 



214 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



able physicians and surgeons of the capital 
city. In 1881 he was appointed chief sur- 
geon of the Santa Fe Railroad, which posi- 
tion he ably filled until March 15. 1897. 
when he resigned. The present hospital 
service of the Santa Fe Railroad was or- 
ganized by Dr. Hogeboom in 1882. and the 
company hospitals in Colorado and Xew 
Mexico were built the following year. The 
erection and equipment of the finest railroad 
hospital in the West is due tf) the efforts 
of Dr. Hogeboom. who early in his labor as 
chief surgeon of the Atchison, Topeka & 
Santa Fe Railroad, recognized the necessity 
for such an institution, where every medical 
and surgical attention could be paid to those 
\\ho were wounded, crippled or sick while in 
the company's service. All plans for the 
railroad hospital at Topeka were made under 
his persona] supervision, with the result that 
this model institution is a lasting monument 
to his extensive and lengthy service as chief 
surgeon of that railroad line. 

Dr. Hogeboom was married on the 4th 
of ;\Iay, 1 86 1, to Sophia Buckmaster. the 
eldest daughter of Dr. Henry Buckmaster, a 
physician of much uKire than local reputa- 
tion, and who was a member of the first 
house of representatives of the State of Kan- 
sas. He served through the War of the Re- 
bellion as staff surgeon, with the rank of ma- 
jor, and he and Dr. Hogeboom were the only 
surgeons of United States Volunteers com- 
missioned liy President Lincoln from the 
State of Kansas. To Dr. and ATrs. Hoge- 
boom were born Umr suns and three daugh- 
ters, and his belief in education has been 
shown by the liberal op])ortunities he has 
provided his children. The three sons are 



graduates of the high school of Topeka and 
completed their studies in the University of 
Kansas. Denton is now a druggist and 
Henry B. and Roch W. are graduates of 
Rusli Medical College, of Chicago, and have 
attained more than local repute as success- 
ful practitioners. The daughters — Kate, 
yinry and Helen — completed their educa- 
tions in the College of the Sisters of Beth- 
any, at Topeka, and the second daughter has 
become the wife of Dr. Xewlon and the 
mother of one child, Helen, who was born 
June 4, 1898. 

Dr. Xewlon has attained high rank in 
!\Iasonr\', belonging to Dallas Citv Lodge. 
X'o. 235, Free and Accepted Masons; Dallas 
Chapter, Xo. iii. Royal Arch Masons; 
Delta Commandery. Xo. 51, Knigiits Temp- 
lar, and Kaaba Temple of the Mystic 
Shrine, at Davenport, and also a member of 
Fort Madison Lodge. X^o. 374, Benevolent 
and Protective Order of Elks. Hardly yet 
in the prime of life, he is nevertheless recog- 
nized as one of the prominent men of the 
city, of a strong and forceful individuality, 
(if lauilable ambition and of earnest and 
conscientious purpose in his profession. 



DAVID WHITE McELROY. 

This is pre-eminenlly the age of intlus- 
irial and commercial acti\it_\- ;inil the busi- 
ness conditions afford excellent ])ossibilities 
for the achievement of success to the man 
of keen discernment and unfaltering energy. 



LEE COUNTY. IOWA. 



21 = 



II is also true that in the development and 
control of a prosperous business enterprise 
there must be close application and unfalter- 
ing purpose and the rewards of labor are 
sure. We are led to this train of reflection 
by examination into the life history of D. 
\\'. McElroy, who today stands at the 
head of one of the leading productive indus- 
tries of Keokuk, and who has risen to a po- 
sition of prominence in business circles 
through his own unaided efforts. 

A native of Armstrong county, Penn- 
sylvania, he was born ou the ist of March. 
1842. I J is father, John ^IcElroy, was a 
native of Belfast, Ireland, and throughout 
his entire life carried on merchandising. He 
was married in 1837, in \\'ashington county, 
Pennsylvania, to Miss Julia Anna White, a 
native of that county, and in 1840 they re- 
moved to Armstrong county, where they 
resided for about twenty-nine years. In 
1869 the\' became residents of Adams 
county, Illinois, where the father spent his 
remaining days, passing away in 1879, while 
his wife spent her last days with her sons 
in Keokuk, dying at the home of John A. 
McElroy. in 1892. Our subject has Init one 
i)ri)ther living, John A. McElroy. who was 
a soldier of the Civil War and is now with 
S. Hamill Company, of Keokuk. 

D. W. McElroy was reared in the 
county of his nati\ilv until seventeen vears 
of age, and acquired his education under the 
direction of his father, attending school not 
more than six months. However, his 
father was a man of learning and he care- 
fully directed the studies of his .son, and Mr. 
McElroy was preparing to e'nter Washing- 
ton and Jefferson College, of Pennsylvania, 



when his patriotic spirit was aroused and he 
enlisted in the United States Army from 
Kittanning, Pennsylvania, becoming a 
member of Company A, Seventy-eighth 
Pennsylvania Infantry, under Capt. William 
Cummins, and Col. William Sirwell. He 
joined the army .Vugust 27, 1861. and served 
until November 3, 1864. The regiment was 
attached to the Fourteenth .\rmy Corps, 
and he participated in the engagemeirts at 
Stone River. Chickamauga, Xew Hope 
Church, and the .\tlanta campaign as far as 
the City of .\tlanta. Me was also in many 
skirmishes, and he was wounded at Stone 
Rixer l)y a gunshot in the leg. This in- 
capacitated him for active field service for 
six weeks, hut he wciuld not go to the hos- 
pital. Prior, hcjwex'er. he was taken to the 
hospital with typhoid fever, in December, 
1 86 1, and was in a Louisville hospital for 
aljout two months. During a period of his 
sersice the regiment did i)ro\ost duty at 
Murfreesboro, Tennes.see. 

Following his discharge from the army 
on the e.Kpiration of his term of service Mr. 
McElroy returned to his home in Pennsyl- 
\ani;i. and in 1867 became a resident of Keo- 
kuk-. He entered the employ of Sample, 
.\rmitage & Company, iron workers, in 
1869, in the capacity f)f bookkeeper, and the 
following year purchased ;in interest in the 
business. He became purchasing agent and 
has so continued in \arious changes in the 
firm. In 1880 he and Mr. .\rmitage pur- 
chased the interest of the other partners, and 
in 1898 Mr. .Mcl''h-oy became .sole owner 
,ind has so continued. He does all kjnds 
of architectural work and drafting ;'emi)loys 
sixteen men in the shop and turns out some 



2l6 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



splendid specimens of architectural iron 
work, manufactured in his plant. His con- 
nection with the business covers more than 
a third of a century, and his efforts have 
been largely instrumental in its substantial 
flevelopment. The plant is \'alued at 
$25,000, and the annual output of 
these products amounts to $35,000. A 
specialty is made of steam generators and 
rendering tanks, which for twenty-five years 
had been manufactured after designs made 
by Mr. McElroy. 

On the 17th of January, 1872, in Keo- 
kuk. Mr. McElroy was married to Miss 
Mary Bailey, and they have three children 
who are living: John A., who is now cash- 
ier in a I)ond and stock office in Chicago, 
and who married Elizabeth Sawyer, of Keo- 
kuk: Margaretta, the wife of H. R. Colli- 
son, of Keokuk, local agent of the Iowa 
State Insurance Company, and David W., 
at home. Fraternally Mr. McElroy is con- 
nected with the Royal Arcanum, and is 
prominent in the Grand .\rmy of the Re 
public Post, at Keokuk, in which he has 
filled all of the ofifices. He has served for 
two terms as commander, three terms as 
adjutant and has been assistant adjutant 
general of the State Department for one 
year. His political allegiance is given the 
Republican ])arty, but while keeping well 
informed on the issues of the day his busi- 
ness affairs have left him little time f(^r 
active political work. He belongs to the 
Westminster Presbyterian church, in which 
he has served as deacon since 1871. and his 
labors in the line of various church activities 
have contributed to its u])building and the 
extension of its influence. In 1875 he 



erected his present home at Xo. 619 High 
street, occupied by his family. He thor- 
oughly enjoys home life and takes great 
pleasure in the society of his family and 
friends. He is always courteous, kindly and 
affable, and those who know him person- 
ally have for him warm regard. A man of 
great natural ability, his success in busi- 
ness, from the beginning of his residence in 
Keokuk, was uniform and rapid. .\s has 
been truly remarked, after all that may be 
done for a man in the way of giving him 
early opportunities for obtaining the re- 
quirements which are sought in the schools 
and in books, he must essentially formulate, 
determine and give shape to his own char- 
acter, and this is what Mr. McElroy has 
done. He has persevered in the pursuit of 
a persistent purpose and gained the most 
satisfactoiy reward. His life is e.Kemplar}' 
in all respects and he has ever supported 
those interests which are calculated to up- 
lift and benefit humanity, while his own high 
moral worth is deserving of the highest com- 
mendation. 



RICHARD EDMUND SMITH. 

R. E. Smith, who died in Keokuk in 
Februarw 1802. was a man of marked busi- 
ness energy and personal popularity, and 
his death was the occasion of deep regret 
throughout the city in which he had long 
made his home and in which he had come to 
be recognized as a man whom to know was 
to respect and honor. He was liorn, reared 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



217 



and educated in Maryland and in early man- 
hood removed from that state to Pennsyl- 
vania, where he became a snh-contractor in 
the building of a tunnel a mile and a quarter 
in length through the Alleghany mountains. 
This was a difficult piece of engineering and 
indicated his superior skill in that direction. 
Mr. Smith arrived in Liwa in 1854. at 
which time he took uj) his abode in Daven- 
port. Init not pleased with tbat city he came 
to Keokuk in 1855 and purchased property 
here with the intention of making his 
permanent home in Lee county. He then 
returned to Loretta. Pennsyh-ania. where 
on the 4th day of May, 1856, he was mar- 
ried. He then brought his bride to 
his new home and here began con- 
tracting and building, his attention 
being gi\'en to the construction of 
houses. Later he was made assistant su- 
perintendent on the Des Moines -Valley 
Road, occupying that position for sixteen 
years, when his health failed and he turned 
his attention to the building of county 
bridges for Lee county. He was employed 
as count\' supervisor and afterward took 
small contracts up to the time of his death, 
doing whatever his health ])iTmitted. lie 
enjoyed the unqualified conlitlence of the 
business community because of his fidelity 
to the terms of a contract and his strict con- 
formity to the ethics of business life. He 
constructed the first freight car ever built 
in the State of Iowa and the tree is still 
standing unfler which he did his work, for 
that was before any shops were built. Later 
he gave his attention to the building of pas- 
senger coaches. As stated. Mr. Smith was 
married, in Loretta. Pennsvlvania, the lady 



of his choice being Miss Catherine A. Myers. 
who was born in that city April 18, 1832. 
Her parents were John B. and Catherine 
(Meyers) Myers. Her parents were na- 
tives of Germany and came to the United 
States soon after their marriage, locating in 
Loretta, Pennsylvania, where 'Mr. Myers 
carried on farming. Sul)sequently he 
turned his attention to hotel keeping at that 
]jlace. Mrs. Smith is related to the Schwab 
millionaires, of Pittsburg, and is an aunt of 
Charles M. Schwab, of steel fame. L'nto 
Mr. and Mrs. Smith were born six sons and 
two daughters: Charles, now living in 
Hannibal, ^lissouri ; b'rank, who died in 
1899, at the age of thirty-seven years; Ed- 
ward, a resident of Pentler, Nebraska ; 
George, who is living in Omaha ; \Villiam, 
who is with the FrankcblM-ank & Company, 
wholesale milliners, of Kansas City, Mis- 
souri ; John, a member of the firm of Cherry, 
Sither & Company, stoves and tinware, of 
Keokuk; Mrs. Anna White, a widow re- 
siding with her mother, and M.ary (irace. 
the wife of W. Winger, a dry goods mer- 
chant of Keokuk. Mrs. Smith now has 
ten grandchildren. 

Mr. Smith held membership in St. Fran- 
ces De Sales Roman Catholic church, to 
which all his family belonged. He was a 
man of many estimable traits of character, 
was veiy generous and kind to the poor and 
needy, sympathetic with those in distress 
and had a ready understanding that enabled 
him to enter into the feeling and realize the 
conditions of others. His benevolent spirit 
prompted him to give assistance wherever it 
was needed and yet he was always unosten- 
tatious in his charitv. He was a wise coun- 



in 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



seller in business, giving his advice freely 
when it was sought, and his judgment was 
rarely, if ever, at fault. In his family, how- 
ever, his best traits of character were shown. 
He was a devoted husband and father, doing 
everything in his power to promote the wel- 
fare and happiness of his wife and children. 
His relations to his employes is shown by 
the fact that while he was serving as rail- 
way superintendent the employes of that 
road bought and presented to him a horse 
and saddle, the former valued at $250. His 
popularit}- with his friends was proven by 
the gift of a gold-headed cane, which was 
voted to him at a Catholic fair as the most 
popular railroad man of the city He left 
his family in comfortable circumstances, 
having his home and other city property in 
addition to considerable life insurance. He 
died at the age of sixty-two years, respected 
by all who knew him and his memory is yet 
cherished not only by his immediate family, 
bufalso b}- the many friends whom he won 
during the years of his residence in Keokuk. 



L. H. PHINNEY. 

Deeds of valor ha\e been the theme of 
song and story throughout all the ages, and 
while memory' remains to the American 
people they will hold in grateful recognition 
the men who fought ti)r the preservation of 
the Union, in one of the most sanguinary 
struggles that has ever been recorded in the 
annals of the world. During the most try- 



ing period of that trying time L. H. Phinney 
was one of "the boj's in blue," and yet he was 
no more loyal to the duties of citizenship 
in time of war than he is in days of peace. 
Mr. Phinney claims Ohio as his native state, 
having been born at Kirtland, Geauga 
county, June 2, 1838. He is the son of 
Horatio and Emily (Kent) Phinney. they 
being of New England birth, but early set- 
tlers of Ohio, where the father was a 
farmer. In 1855 the family decided to emi- 
grate to the more distant West, and removed 
to Lodi. Wisconsin, and there they spent the 
remainder of their lives, their later years 
especially being rich in works of piety and 
good deeds. The father was a very prom- 
inent memljer of the Methodist Episcopal 
church at that place, acting as class leader 
for many years, and being ever active and 
zealous in support of the church and her 
charities. In politics he was a Whig, and on 
the formation of the Republican party he 
became a member of that organization. 

It was in Ohio that L. H. Phinney re- 
ceive<l the major portion of those educa- 
tional advantages which he has been privi- 
leged to enjoy, but it was in Wisconsin that 
he formed many of the important connec- 
tions that were largely to determine the 
course of his after life. There he was united 
in marriage, on November i, 1859, to Miss 
Martha J. Hill, of Lodi, and there he began 
and for three years pursued the study of 
veterinary surgery, which work was to con- 
stitute the principal activity of his career. 
At the \ery beginning of the Civil War. 
however, he gave up his chosen work, and in 
July. 1 861, enlisted in Company A. of the 
Seventh \\'isconsin Volunteer Infantrv. 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



219 



Proceeding to Madison, wliere the regiment 
was organized, he joined the Army of the 
Potomac, under Gen. George B. McClellan. 
He continued in active service up to and in- 
cluding the hattle of Antictam, where he was 
wounded, in consequence of which he was 
later discharge! for disability. 

After reco\ering in some measure from 
the effects of wounds he began the practice 
of veterinar\- surgery at Lodi, and after a 
short but successful experience at that place, 
he removed to Iowa, locating at New Hamp- 
ton. Chickasaw county. It was shortly 
after this that he was appointed deputy 
sheriff, an oflfice which he filled for two 
terms. This was followed by his removal 
to Butler comity, where he acted as con- 
stable, and in this capacity he tra\eled ex- 
tensively, making the record of arresting 
more criminals than, in all probabliity, can 
be credited to any other officer in the state, 
if not even the Lnited States. After a resi- 
dence of eleven years at Xew Hampton he 
removed to Iowa Falls, in Hardin county, 
and there discharged simultaneously the du- 
ties of veterinary surgeon, liverv'man, city 
marshal and constable, continuing a success- 
ful business career until 1898, h\ which time 
he had built up a large \eterinary practice 
that claimed his entire attention. In 1894 
he came to Fort Madison, and rapidly ac- 
quired the leading veterinary practice of the 
city, at the same time that he was taking rank 
as one of the leading and most representa- 
tive citizens. 

To Mr. and Mrs. I'hinney have been 
born six children, five of whom still- live: 
Endora, wife of F. K. Brown, died at 
Brooklyn, Xew York, in 1903. Those living 



are: Alfred H., of Iowa Falls; Ida, now 
married and living in Oskaloosa; J. H., of 
Chicago; ^lyrtlc. wife of John Ramsey, of 
Oskaloosa; Lena May, wife of Bert Ver- 
meer. of Lucas. Iowa. 

Mr. Phinney was a member of the Grand 
.\rmy of the Republic at Iowa Falls, but has 
allowed the connection to lapse. In politics 
he has always given his allegiance to the Re- 
publican party, believing that the best in- 
terests of the nation are conserved thereby. 
Genial, upright and thoroughly loyal to his 
friends, he is uni\ersally respected and 
honored. 



LEWIS CONLEE. 



One of the well-known farmers of Lee 
county and at the present time trustee of 
Jefferson township, where he owns 175 
acres of valuable land, is Lewis Coulee, who 
was born in this township. November 4, 
1862. the son of Paris and Amanda (Hewit) 
Coulee. Paris Coulee was born in Greene 
county, Illinois, and came to Iowa with his 
parents when only one year old. His 
father, the grandfather of our subject, was 
a man of prominence, and at the time of his 
death was a meml)er of the state legislature 
at Iowa City. The family, which had lo- 
cated at Burlington, removed to Jefferson 
township when Paris Coulee was five years 
of age. ^and here he grew to manhood, but 
after his marriage he continued farming 
near Veile, spending there the greater jiart 
of his active life, and acquiring a good farm 



■220 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



of lOO acres. He was quite prominent in lo- 
cal Democratic politics, being several times 
elected township assessor and always an 
active worker in the interest of the party. 
Mrs. Conlee was born in Jefferson township, 
her parents having early removed here from 
Pennsylvania. Both were early members of 
the Baptist church. They were the par- 
ents of three children, as follows: Levi T., 
Lewis, and Ella, wife of H. C. \V. Eppers, 
of Montrose township. The father is still 
living, but the death of the mother occurred 
in March, 1886. 

Lewis Conlee, the subject of this review, 
obtained his early knowledge of books in 
the public schools of his township, and on his 
father's farm learned the lessons of useful 
labor. His time was thus employed until 
his twenty-first year, when he went to Da- 
kota territory. Failing to find there the op- 
portunities he had expected, he returned 
after two years to this township and rented 
a farm. After a few years, being very suc- 
cessful in this venture, he bought his present 
farm in 1903-. and has since added to it 
until now he owns a tract of 175 acres. He 
has in.creased the productivity of the soil 
since purchasing it, and has added many im- 
provements. 

On November 4, 1886, Mr. Conlee was 
united in marriage to Miss Rosa Applegate, 
daughter of .\ndrew J. Applegate, of this 
township. To this union have been born 
two sons and three daughters, as follows : 
Julia G., Harr}-. Ruth P., Esther, and 
Charles P. 

Mr. Conlee early allied himself with the 
Democracy, believing its principles to be 
more consistent with .American ideas of lib- 
erty and popular government than those of 



any other party. He has been an active 
worker in politics, and to hnn is due much 
of the party's success in this section. He 
has served as delegate in a number of con- 
ventions, and his first public office was that 
of road supervisor. During his term the 
roads under his care were much improved, 
and needed bridges were installed. In the 
autumn of 1894 he was elected trustee of 
Jefferson township, and having performed 
the many duties of the position with great 
cretlit to himself and the satisfaction of the 
public, has since been twice re-elected, be- 
ing now in his third term. He has also been 
active in educational matters, realizing that 
the greatness and continued prosperity of 
the nation depend upon the faithful admin- 
istration of the public schools, and has acted 
as treasurer of school district No. 7, of Jef- 
ferson township, of the last ten years. By 
virtue of these facts and in view of his pub- 
lic spirit manifested in many other ways, 
Mr. Conlee is justly known as one of Lee 
county's most progressive and enterprising 
citizens. He has many friends who delight 
to do him honor, and his sphere of useful- 
ness will probably grow larger as his ability 
and merits become more widelv known. 



CAPTAIN WILLIAM WILSON. 

Capt. William Wilson, an honored vet- 
eraii of the Civil ^^'ar. who for more than 
half a century has been a resident of Keo- 
kuk, arrived in Lee county, February 22. 
1852. He was born in Gallia county, Ohio, 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



22 1 



on llie loth of May, 1829. His father. 
Robert G. Wilson, was born in Washington, 
Pennsylvania, and was a representative of 
an old Pennsylvania Dutch family. He died 
at Point Pleasant, Virginia, and his widow, 
who bore the maiden name of Laura Barnes, 
afterward came to the West, and passed 
away in Iowa, in 1880. They were the par- 
ents of five sons and four daughters : James 
L., who served in the Civil War in the 
Second Iowa Infantiy. and is now l)ridge 
engineer with the Keokuk & Hamilton Com- 
pany; Matilda, now Mrs. Mason, who has 
been three times a widow, and lives in Keo- 
kuk; Maria, who is the widow of John 
Douglas and resides with her brother. Ca'p- 
tain Wilson ; Lucretia, the widow of John 
Richart. of Montana, and Mary, the wife 
of Robert Harrington, and a resident of 
Boone, Iowa; Charles, Henry Clay are both 
deceased as is also George \V., who was a 
private in the Regular Army and died in 
Omaha and is buried at Keokuk, Iowa. 

The other member of the family is Cap- 
tain Wilson, who was reared to manhood in 
the state of his nati\it\- and acquired his edu- 
cation in a pri\ate school, at one time be- 
ing a pupil of Rev. Stewart Robinson, after- 
ward a Presbyterian minister and at the 
time of the Civil War a well-known Confed- 
erate leader. Captain Wilson desired to en- 
ter the service at the time of the Mexican 
W'ar, but was rejected on account of his 
youth. Pie afterward learned the carpen- 
ter's trade with an uncle in Pittsburg, Penn- 
sylvania, and continued to follow that pur- 
suit until 1856. He arrived in Lee county, 
Iowa, on the 22d of February, 1852, and 



while en route he heard Kossuth speak in 
Cincinnati. He made his way westward by 
the Ohio river from Kanawha county, West 
Virginia, and on up the Mississippi, and 
after following carpentering in Keokuk for 
three or four years he i)urchased the news 
depot, which he conducted until 1861. 

In that year he put aside all business and 
])ersonal considerations and responded to his 
country's call for aid, his patriotic spirit 
prompting his enlistment widi the boys in 
blue, of Company C. Third Iowa Cavalry. 
He enlisted as a private, was made orderly 
sergeant when the regiment was organized 
and successively became second and first 
lieutenant, while at Helena. Arkansas, on 
the resignation of Captain Anderson, He 
was promoted to the command of the com- 
pany. He continued in that rank until No- 
\ember. 1864. when he was mustered out 
through special order issued by General 
Grant, that all officers who had served for 
three years should be released from duty, if 
they so desired. Captain Wilson was offered 
the position of major, if he would remain, 
hut lie decided to return home, hax'ing al- 
ready served for three years and four 
months. He participated in the battle of 
Pea Ridge, and went on the march from the 
mouth of the Black ri\er to Helena, Arkan- 
sas, which was known as the "lost army." 
They fora'ged through the country, obtain- 
ing all their provisions in that way, and were 
upon the march for atout five weeks, dur- 
ing which time the regiment was lost from 
the department, in fact being cut off from 
all communication with the outside world. 
They celebrated the 4th of July, 1862, at 



2.22 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



Augusta, Arkansas. Following the engage- 
ment at Helena the regiment went to Vicks- 
burg, and following the capitulation of that 
city, to Jackson, Mississippi. Later they re- 
turned to Vicksburg and destroyed all the 
stock on the railroad from Yazoo to Mem- 
phis. At length the regiment was reunited 
at Little Rock, Arkansas, and was stationed 
at the Benton outpost until December, when 
it was ordered back to Little Rock. Cap- 
tain Wilson returned home on a veteran 
furUiugh, in February, 1864. and at thi-^ 
time the regiment was recruited to its full 
strength in Keokuk. Captain Wilson after- 
ward went to St. Louis and thence by 
steamboat to Memphis, Tennessee. Only 
on one occasion did the regiment sufifer de- 
feat, and that was at the first battle of Gun- 
town. They met reinforcements, however, 
at Collirsville, then entered Memphis and 
went out under Gen. A. J. Smith, 
again meeting the Rebels under For- 
rest, at Guntown, and this time scoring 
a splendid victory. Later the troops re- 
turned to Memphis and Captain Wilson was 
detailed ■ to bring the non-veterans home. 
This closed his military service, he arriving 
in Keokuk, November i, 1864, after more 
than three years of active duty in defending 
the stars and stripes. He was never 
wounded, but was twice seriously ill and on 
one occasion he was ordered home, it was 
thought to die, but he refused to leave the 
front and ultimately recovered his health. 

After his return from the war Captain 
Wilson filled several civic offices. He was po- 
lice judge for four years, city collector two 
years, clerk of the district court two years, 
and in his election to the last office he over- 



come a usual Democratic majority of be- 
tween 800 and 900, being elected by a ma- 
jority of twenty-seven. For a second term, 
however, he was defeated. In 1875 "^^ 
turned his attention to the grocery business, 
in which he engaged for twenty-five years. 
Later he served as justice of the peace for 
two years, and is now living retired. 

In Keokuk, Iowa, in 1852, Captain Wil- 
son was united in marriage to Miss Lydia 
Barrett, who was born in Ohio, and died 
February 9, 1903, her remains being interred 
in Oakland cemetery. They had but one 
child, James R., who was born in April, 
1854, and died in infancy, age two months 
and nine days. However, they reared Mrs. 
Wilson's niece, who lived with them twelve 
years, and then became the wife of Joseph 
Tanner, a cousin of the late Governor of Il- 
linois. She died in Evansville, Indiana. 
]\Irs. W'ilson was a member of the Method- 
ist Episcopal church, and he contributes to 
the support of the church, although he is 
not a member. His political support has 
always been given to the Republican party, 
and in matters of citizenship he is as true 
and loyal to his country as when he followed 
the old flag upon Southern l)attlefields. 



JOHN WALLACE. 

John Wallace, who proved his loyalty 
to the LTnion cause by active service on 
Southern battlefields in the Civil War, and is 
now a resident of Keokuk, was born in Ben- 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



nington county, Vermont, in 1838. With 
his parents lie removed to Pennsylvania, 
and the mother died in Sparta, that state. 
Later the family came to the Mississippi 
valley, settling in Wisconsin, and ihe father 
afterwaril went to Kansas, where his death 
occurred, he Iwing whipped until he died 
by cowboys who wanted his property. He 
owned 160 acres of land on the \'ermilion 
river, and after the assassins had succeeded 
in their dastardly deed they drove off all of 
his cattle and took his blacksmith tools. He 
had learned the blacksmith's trade in early 
life, and had followed that to a greater or 
less extent throughout his active business 
career. 

John Wallace had no opportunity to get 
an education and only attended schqol but 
three days, and began to make his own way 
early in life. WHien eighteen years of age he 
was bound out to Tom ^furray, of Atkin- 
son,. Kansas, who became, however, a 
border ruffian, and Mr. Wallace remained 
with him only about a year. He afterward 
earned a few dollars by sawing wood, and 
later returned to Wisconsin, where he 
worked as a farm hand until he entered the 
pineries, being thus employed in the lumber 
regions up to the time of his enlistment. It 
was on the 15th of December, 1863, at 
Ripon. Fond du Lac county. W'isconsin, that 
he enrolled his name among the boys in 
blue, of the First Regiment of Wisconsin 
Cavalr}-. He w-as mustered into the United 
States service at Camp Randall, Madison, 
Wisconsin, on the 19th of Deceml)er, as a 
private, belonging to the company com- 
manded by Capt. Charles Pettibone. while 
Col. O. H. LaGrange was in command of the 
regiment. He enlisted for three years, or 



<luring the war, and the regiment was as- 
signed to the Twentieth Corps of the Annv 
of the Cumberland, and participated in the 
engagements at Bloomfield, Clark Bluff, 
W^st Prairie. Jonesboro, Jacksonville, Car- 
lerville. White Water, Cape Girard- 
eau, Caster River, Middleton, Chicka- 
mauga, Anderson Crossroads, Mays- 
ville. New Market, Mossey Creek, 
Dandridge, Cleveland, Fair Garden, Big 
Shanty, Kenesaw Mountain, Harpers 
Ferry, and Chattahoochee River, and the 
pursuit of Wheeler, in Tennessee. He was 
also in the battles of Hopkinsville. Eliza- 
bethtown, Centerville, Scottsville, Mont- 
gonieiy, Columbus Road, and Fort Taylor. 
He had three ribs broken by accident when 
near Atlanta, while hauling batteries, and 
on one occasion he was captured near Bowl- 
ing Green, Kentucky, but succeeded in mak- 
ing his escape and rejoined his regiment. He 
was one of the detachment under command 
of General Herndon that captured Jefferson 
Davis, at Erwinsville, Georgia, May to. 
1865, ^"<i there he sustained a buckshot 
wound in the side, the troops being fired 
upon by Colonel Pritchard's men when they 
went to capture the president of the South- 
ern Confederacy. Mr. Wallace was hon- 
orably discharged August 26, 1865. at ^L'ld- 
ison. Wisconsin, following the close of the 
war, and he returned to his home with a 
most creditable militarjr record, for he had 
always been true to the duty assigned him, 
notwithstanding it frequently called him 
into the thickest of the fight. He was ever 
brave and loyal and was a creditable mem- 
ber of the great army whose s.inifices pre- 
served the Union. 

In 1866 Mr. Wallace was united in 



224 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



marriage to Miss Hannah Vest, who died in 
Keokuk in 1890. In 1892 he was again 
married, his second union being with Laura 
M. Wheeler. They have three children, 
Olivet Myrtle, Gordon N. \V., and Ly- 
man W. 

Mr. Wallace worked at the blacksmith's 
trade for thirteen years. He now draws 
a pension of thirty dollars per month, but 
he still engages in active labor to some ex- 
tent. He has a comfortable home at 416 
South Eleventh street, and enjoys the re- 
spect of many of his fellow citizens. His 
political allegiance is given to the Repub- 
lican party, and he belongs to the Grand 
Army of the Republic. He is as true today 
to his duties of citizenship as when he fol- 
lowed the old flag upon Southern battlefields. 



CHARLES BREWSTER. 

Charles Brewster, deceased, the period 
of whose residence in Fort Madi.son — from 
1844 to 1893 — covered the era of its great 
growth and substantial development, figured 
prominently in public affairs, especially 
along the lines of business progress. The self- 
made man is particularly a product of Amer- 
ica, for no other countiy affords the oppor- 
tunities that the new world does for the 
exercise of native talent and ability. Of 
this class Charles Brewster was a represen- 
tative, entering upon manhood without capi- 
tal, yet finding opportunity for business ad- 
vancement and seeing in each transition 



stage of his business career a chance for an 
onward step. While he won notable success 
he also worked for higher ethical ideas in 
the business world, realizing that honor and 
truth are as \alual)le in trade relations as 
in other walks of life. 

Charles Brewster was born in Ireland in 
1813, and when twelve years of age came to 
America with his grandfather. He went 
to live with an uncle in Philadelphia, with 
whom he remained until twenty-three years 
of age. He had expected pecuniary assist- 
ance sufficient to enable him to engage in 
business on his own account on attaining his 
majority, but his uncle failed, and Mr. Brew- 
ster, at the age of twenty-three years, found 
himself without capital. This seeming ob- 
stacle, however, called forth his latent pow- 
ers and native resources. Seeking a favor- 
able field for the exercise of his talents he 
went to Indiana, where he obtained employ- 
ment in the government land office, at Vin- 
cennes. Subsequently he engaged in mer- 
chandizing there, and in 1844 came to Fort 
Madison. Here he again established a mer- 
cantile enterprise, and for a number of years 
successfully continued his connection with 
the dry goods trade. He confined his atten- 
tion solely to this line for many years, or un- 
til his prosperity was an assured fact, and 
then extended his efforts into other fields. 
In 1876 he became associated with Dr. Jo- 
seph A. Smith in the banking business, pur- 
chasing the Bank of Fort Madison, of which 
he became the president. On the control 
of this institution he manifested the same 
close application, discriminating judgment 
and unfaltering enterprise which were 
notable in his career as a merchant. He was- 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



225 



still with the hank when it was niergcil into 
the h'irst National Bank, of Fort Madison, 
and with the latter institution hecame a 
nieniher of the first board of directors. 
Later, when that l)ank was succeeded l)y the 
Fort Ma<Hson Savings Bank, he was chosen 
president, and the' comprehensive knowl- 
edge which he had gained through prac- 
tical experience concerning the banking 
business enabletl him to make this new 
moneyed enterprise one of the solid financial 
concerns of Lee county. There were few 
enteqjrises of importance in Fort Madison 
that did not receive from him substantial as- 
sistance, while his wise counsel proved a 
valued factor in their successful conduct. 
He was one of the founders of the Fort 
Madison Chair Company, at the time of its 
organization, which is still profitajjly con- 
ducted, and while promoting his individual 
prosperity he thus contributed in large 
measure to the commercial development and 
substantial upbuilding of the city. 

Upon the organization of the Republican 
party Charles Brewster became an advocate 
of its principles, but never sought ofiice, al- 
though never remiss in the duties of citizen- 
ship. His religious faith was that of the 
Presbyterian church, to which he contributed 
generously; also giving of his time and 
energies to the various church activities and 
the extension of its infiuence. 

Mr. Brewster was married twice. In 
early manhood he wedded Miss Margaret 
Badollet, a native of Vincennes, Indiana, 
who died in 1852, leaving one child. For 
his second wife he chose Eliza J. DeForrest, 
of Sharon, Pennsylvania, and they were the 
parents of three children, who reached ma- 
il 



ture years: Martha J., James C, and Wil- 
liam J. Mrs. Eliza Brewster passed away 
in 1879, and the death of Charles Brewster 
occurred on the 13th of November. 1893, 
after a residence of nearly half a century in 
Fort Madison. Under the stimulus of neces- 
sitv in early manhood his powers developed 
and his keen- mentality enabled him to 
equally recognize the possibilities of a busi- 
ness situation. He found in the young but 
growing city of southeastern Iowa the op- 
portunities he sought and. prompted by a 
laudable ainbition which had for its objec- 
tive point the acquirement of large success 
through honorable methods, he gradually 
worked his way upward from humble posi- 
tion until he ranked with the leading finan- 
ciers of the state, thus proving by his life's 
record that prosperity antl an honored name 
may be won simultaneously. 



JAMES CONARO. 



James Conaro, of Denmark, Iowa, one 
of the largest landowners and most widely 
known retired farmers of Lee county, was 
Ixjrn September 15, 1824, in Schoharie 
county, New York, the son of Jacob Conaro, 
and was reared l)y his grandmother and by 
an uncle, his mother having died when he 
was but a small child in his seventh year. 
For six years he worked as a farm hand, 
first receiving nine dollars a month for eight 
months" work, and when he was about 
twenty- four years of age he went to .'\shta- 



226 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



bula, Ohio, and with his brother, conducted 
a dairy farm for two years, learning, during 
that time, the trade of cheesemaking, which 
he followed intermittently throughout the 
remainder of his active career. He next 
engaged in partnership with others in rent- 
ing a large dairy farm, and in that enterprise 
he continued until 1855, when he decided 
to begin business independently, and after 
considering various locations, resolved to try 
his fortunes in the West, and accordingly 
came to Denmark township, where he pur- 
chased ninety acres of land at twenty dollars 
an acre ; but, being at that time almost with- 
out resources, other than his individual 
strength and energy, he was compelled to 
depend upon his personal efforts to pay for 
the farm. This he was able to do after ten 
years of hard and faithful work and careful 
planning, although the scarcity of ready 
money in those days placed him under the 
necessity of paying ten per cent, interest 
upon his original indebtedness for about six 
years, when he got it reduced. 

Here in Iowa Mr. Conaro devoted his 
time to his trade of cheesemaking and to 
general farming, for the former business 
keeping a dairy of twenty-five to thirty cows 
and making up the milk and cheese on his 
own farm, selling in Burlington his entire 
product, for which he always received the 
highest current prices. He became prob- 
ably one of the largest cheese manufacturers 
in this part of the state, and certainly one of 
the most successful, while on the other hand 
he displayed remarkable ability in the con- 
duct of his agricultural interests, continuing 
to increase his original purchase until he 
now owns 350 acres of valuable land in a 



high state of improvement and cultivation, 
equipped with labor-saving appliances and 
many modern buildings. Thus he followed 
farming and dairying with great profit until 
1884, when he purchased a pleasant home 
in the village of Denmark, and here he has 
since resided in retirement from active busi- 
ness, renting his lands to farmers. 

Mr. Conaro has been twice married, first 
in 1847, to Miss Emily Montgomery^ who 
was a woman of beautiful Christian char- 
acter and a faithful member of the Congre- 
gational church. She was the mother of 
two daughters, who survive her, the elder 
of these being Adella, wife of O. R. Lippet, 
of Duluth, ^Minnesota, who has six children : 
Chester, Walter, Dunbar, LeRoy, Fannie 
and Agnes ; and the younger Adelia, who 
now resides with her father, Ijeing the 
widow of George Humphrey, a soldier of 
the Civil War, who died three years after 
the close of that great conflict. Mr. Con- 
aro's second marriage was to Airs. Hen- 
rietta (Sackett) Wilder, who was first mar- 
ried in 1862 to Hermon D. Montgomery, 
brother of the first Mrs. Conaro, a farmer 
of Denmark township, whose death occurred 
in 1875, and she later became the wife of 
George Wilder, a native of Lemonington, 
Massachusetts, who, with his parents, was 
among the very earliest pioneers of Lee 
county and of Iowa. Mrs. Conaro is a 
daughter of Cassander and Henrietta 
(Beach) Sackett, the mother being a native 
of Connecticut and the father of Ohio, where 
they celebrated their marriage, and whence 
they came to Denmark in 1849 ^^i"^ engaged 
in farming. Both were active members of 
the Congregational church here, and here 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



227 



they passed the remainder of their lives, and 
were buried in the Denmark cemetery, sur- 
vived l)y children, as follows: Mercy, 
since deceased, who was the wife of Wil- 
liam Hornby; William Lloyd, who resides 
in California: George C, and Mrs. Conaro. 
Mr. and Mrs. Conaro arc both very ac- 
ti\c in the work of the Congregational 
church, at Denmark, of which Mr. Conaro 
is a trustee; are devoted to the doctrines 
and practice of the Christian faith, and have 
ever been generous in the support of char- 
itable and benevolent movements. Mr. Con- 
aro has made a study of most of the public 
questions which have agitated the nation 
during the past half century, and has taken 
considerable interest in matters of politics, 
acting with the Republican party, and has 
given much thought and efYort to the up- 
building of his own immediate community. 
having been one of the prime movers in the 
organization ten years ago of the Lee 
County Mutual Fire Insurance Company, 
and having served as its president through- 
out, the entire term of its existence. The 
company is in a highly flourishing condition, 
and for this much of the credit is conceded 
to its president, who has been very self-sac- 
rificing in his efforts to bring the company 
to a level with the very best in the state. In 
fact, every enterprise of which he has had 
the exclusive management has been con- 
ducted with care, fidelity and large business 
aliility, combined with the most scrupulous 
rectitude, and the success which he has 
achieved is the result of a rare union of qual- 
ities. His position has always been that of 
a leader, for which he is pre-eminently fitted 
by nature, and in all affairs affecting the 



public welfare which ha\e l)een favored by 
his participation, his upright and honorable 
course has made him many friends and ad- 
mirers, who will, without doubt, be inter- 
ested in this modest review of his career. 



PETER HOTT. 



Peter Hott, an old and much esteemed 
resident of Cedar township, Lee county, 
Iowa, was born in Pickaway county, Ohio, 
.September 29, 1834, a son of George and 
Jane (Dean) Hott. both of whom were of 
German descent. The parents left Ohio 
with their family September 6, 1839, and 
drove through with team and wagon to 
Harrison township, Lee county, where the 
husband and father bought a claim of forty 
acres, which he later entered from the gov- 
ernment. The wife and mother died the fol- 
lowing March, leaving four children : Isaac, 
Peter, whose name introduces this article; 
Aaron died at the age of six years, and 
Henry, who died a baby. She was buried 
near their farm on the old Poole place. The 
father afterward married Mrs. Jane War- 
ren, and moved to Cedar township, to set-* 
tie on the farm now occupied by the sub- 
ject of this sketch. There he died January 
T9, 1889. full of years and honor. He was 
.seventy-seven at the time of his death, and 
his ashes rest in the P>ayles cemetery, as 
does those of his wife, whose death occurred 
February 27, 1885. Politically he was a 
Democrat, and is remembered as a man of 



128 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



mucli cliaracter and energy. He was born 
in Pickaway county, Ohio, February 22. 
1812, and his wife was born in Robinson 
county, Tennessee, September 6, 181 1. 

]\Ir. Hott helped to develope a large 
farm, and he built a home on his forty-acre 
claim in Cedar township. He also bought 
out the different heirs to his wife's first hus- 
band, Mr. Warren. At the time of his death 
he owned 425 acres. He started out poor 
in this world's goods, though he was blessed 
with indomitable courage and a mighty per- 
sistance that carried him safely through all 
difficulties. Handicapped by a lack of edu- 
cation, when lie began fur himself he could 
not even sign his name, l)Ut he became a 
well-informed citizen, and mastered every 
detail of his calling. For some years he 
was engaged in the cooper trade, and was 
engaged in that work at h^armington, Iowa. 
The cultivation of the soil was his master 
passion, and he devoted his life to general 
fa.rming. At the time of his second mar- 
riage he had 1)ut ten acres under cultivation. 
All the rest was wild [jrairie and timber and 
he patiently and persistently worked at it 
luitil it was all under the domain of the plow 
and. the harrow. 

Peter Hott attended school for a little 
time, when the building was burned with 
all the school books, and as his father would 
not buy more he had to go to work. Tliis 
was known as the Bayles school, and when 
he did attend it he and his brother tocik turns 
going on alternate weeks. They found it a 
hard school of instruction, but what they 
learned they prized, and it became the nu- 
cleus of a wider knowledge as the years 
passed until as they entered manhood they 



were able to take a stand as uprigiit and in- 
telligent citizens. 

Mr. Hott has devoted his life to farming, 
and at the jiresent time is the proprietor of 
a fine rural estate of six hundred acres all 
in one piece except as crossed liy the puljlic 
high^^•ay. This land has cost him on the 
a\erage a little over thirty dollars an acre, 
but could not be bought for several times 
that price. Here he has six houses and other 
conveniences for advanced and progressive 
farming, and by common repute is said to 
be worth more than $50,000. 

Peter Hott and Miss Mary Harlan were 
married January 18, 1855. She was a na- 
tive of Ohio, and after a brief matrimonial 
career passed to her rest, March 6, 1865, 
leaving two children : Dora, who married 
William Shaw, they had one child, Florence 
M. She married Lute Hixon, and has one 
child, Lester. Mr. Shaw is deceased and 
his wife's second marriage was to Mr. 
Samuel Huddleston, and they live upon part 
of her father's farm. To this union has 
lieen born the following children : Ora J., 
who married Samuel Maloy, and has one 
child, Kenneth; Sherman M., deceased; Cy- 
rena M. ; George P.; Blanche; Mary H.; 
Merle and Olive. The second child of Mr. 
Hott was Cyrena, who died at the age of 
twenty-eight. She was not married. 

Mr. Plott contracted a second marriage, 
December 7, 1865, when Miss Anna Lane 
became his wife. She was a native of High- 
land county, Ohio, and a daughter of Ja- 
cob and Charlotte Lane. Her parents drove 
through from Ohio, and settled on a farm 
a half mile only from the present home of 
I\Irs. Hott. Later on thev remo\ed to Clark 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



220 



county, Iowa, wliere Mr. l.ane secured 
eighty acres under j;fc)\ernnient entry. They 
spent their last days witli Mr. and Mrs. 
Hott. and (Hed under their roof. Their re- 
mains rest in the Bayles cemetery. 

To the second marriage of Peter Hott 
was liorn one child. Isaac Henn', who has 
his Iionie on part of the paternal estate. He 
married Miss Elizabeth Yargus, who died, 
lea\-ing two children. Boyd and Edith. 

Mr. Hott is a Republican, though he has 
ne\er consented to take office, and has de- 
voted his life to his farm. He is a member 
of the Christian church, of which he is an 
elder, and has been a deacon. Mr. and Mrs. 
Hott w^ere burned out May 6, 1903, with the 
total loss of eventhing above the first floor. 
He has since erected a new aufl handsome 
residence. It contains all the modern im- 
provements, and is a model farm residence. 
Fi\e years prior his son, Isaac Henry, 
burned out, losing everything, and Mr. Hott 
erected a fine large residence. 



LOUIS A. HECHLER. 



Louis A. Hechler. proprietor of a meat 
market in Keokuk, was born in Warsaw. Il- 
linois. December 26. 1862, his parents be- 
ing Carl Frederick and Margaret (Wagner) 
Hechler. The father was born at Nord- 
heim. W'urttemberg, September 5. 1821. and 
was a stonemason. He also learned the 
weaver's trade, but his father had owned a 



stone quarry, and had educated his sons with 
reference to the business and its kindred in- 
dustries. He first married Elizabeth Wag- 
ner, who died a year later, leaving no chil- 
dren. He afterward married Margaret 
Wagner, who was born at Badenheim. 
Wurltemberg, March 3. 1832. After his 
second marriage he became discontented 
with regard to the treatment of his family 
and came to America with his father-in-law, 
George Wagner, a tailor. They left Ger- 
many in 1854 and crossed the Atlanta to 
New Orleans, thence proceeded up the 
river to ^^'arsaw. Illinois, where thev re- 
mained in the fall of 1S54. Carl Hechler 
had been a healthy, strong man until sea- 
sickness left him a dyspeptic, he ne\er' being 
well after the voyage to the United States. 
Following his arrival in this country he 
worked in a bi^ewery in Warsaw. His wife 
died February 17. 1868, and his death oc- 
curred Januaiy 18. 1871. Their children 
were as follows : Fred C, who was torn 
October 20, 1853, and is. now in California; 
Caroline C. who was born April 6, 1856, 
and is now the wife of George Lowenstein, 
a cigar manufacturer and city collector, of 
Keokuk; Elizabeth M.. who was born Aug- 
ust 2T, 1858, and is the wife of Charles Sayl- 
ler, of Keokuk: Catherine Helen, who 
was born January 2, 1866, and was adopted 
by Dr. Knowles, and is the wife of J. G. 
Koon, of \Mnemount. .\l;ibama. 

Louis A. Hechler was left an orphan 
when eight years of age. He lived with his 
guardian. Charles Barney, .until sixteen 
years of age and then worked for S. P. 
Pond & Company, dealer in eggs, for eight 



230 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



years. He was later a porter for Collier, 
Robinson & Hamilton, wholesale grocers, 
for two years, and subsequently spent one 
year with the firm of J- Burke & Company, 
bottlers ot mineral waters. Throughout 
these years he was saving money as he found 
opportunity, and in 1889, when his capital 
had sufficiently increased to permit of the 
venture, he opened a butcher shop in Keo- 
kuk, which he has since conducted, being 
now one of the well-known meat merchants 
of the city. He always carries a good line 
of meats, and his earnest efiforts to please his 
customers, combined with straightforward 
dealing, has secured to him a liberal and 
profitable patronage. 

]\Ir. Hechler married ^liss Mary Heine, 
a daughter of Charles E. Heine, a farmer 
residing west of Keokuk. They have two 
children, Grace and Ralph. Mr. Hechler is 
a member of Hardin Lodge, No. 29, Free 
and Accepted Alasons ; Keokuk Lodge, No. 
13. Lidependent Order of Odd Fellows; 
Aerie Lodge, No. 683, Fraternal Or- 
der of Eagles, and Keokuk Lodge, 
No. 256, Ancient Order of United 
Workmen, and has many warm and admir- 
ing friends among his brethren of these fra- 
ternities. He votes with the Republican 
party, but has ne\er aspired to office, prefer- 
ing to concentrate his energies and attention 
upon his business affairs. Starting out in 
life for himself at an early age, he has stead- 
ily worked his way upward through per- 
sistency of purpose, which he would allow 
nothing to swerve, and his business capacity 
and energy' have made him one of the sub- 
stantial citizens of his ward. 



FRED H. OHNING. 

In Lee county are many inhabitants of 
foreign birth who, attracted by more pro- 
gressive institutions, broader educational fa- 
cilities and the superior advantages offered 
for making a living, have come here with 
their families and means for the purpose of 
founding homes in the new country. These 
valuable additions to the native population 
lia\e by their industry, economy, and hon- 
orable methods become essential factors in 
the growth of the county. A member of 
such a family is Fred H. Ohning, of Frank- 
lin township, who was born in Hanover, 
Germany, November 2, 1864, the son of 
Frederick and Dorothy v. Aim Ohning. 
His parents were both natives of Hanover, 
and removed to America in 1873, sailing 
from Hamburg and landing at New York. 
Proceeding directly to Lee county, Iowa. 
thev located at Primrose, where the father 
opened a shop and established himself in 
his traile of tailoring. The following year 
he removed to Franklin township, and here 
he continuetl to work at his trade for some 
vears. Later he became a veterinary sur- 
geon. In this profession he was highly suc- 
cessful, and attained a wide reputation, his 
services being in constant demand. He is 
a member of the Evangelical church, antl in 
questions of political policy has always sup- 
ported the Democratic party. He owns resi- 
dence jiropcrty in the village of Franklin, 
where he has erected a substantial brick 
dwelling house. Being of an original and 
investigating turn of mind, he discovered 
some six years ago a method of curing the 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



231 



dreaded disease of cancer which entitled him 
to rank as a benefactor of the human race. 
The process is one which does not require a 
surgical operation, and has proved very suc- 
cessful. This achievement alone would 
constitute a life work of which any man 
might well lie proud. 

Mr. Ohning, the subject of this sketch, 
received a good education in the jniblic 
schools, and remained a member of his fa- 
ther's family until he was twenty years of 
age. when he began active life on his own 
account, determined to achieve success for 
himself by his unassisted efforts. Compar- 
ing all available fields of honorable en- 
deavor, his choice was made in favor of the 
West, and he located at Nebraska City, Ne- 
braska. There 'he secured employment for 
a time as a laborer, but in 1883 took up the 
trade of printing, which he followed for 
eight years. In 1892, returning to Frank- 
lin township, he began farming, having long 
felt an inclination for that sort of work, 
and the following year purchased a farm 
of forty acres. I.,ater he purchased his pres- 
ent home in the village of Franklin. Here 
he carries on general farming, in which he 
has met with much success. 

On September 22, 1887, Mr. Ohning 
was united in marriage with Miss Louise 
Karte. a native of Hanover, Germany, who 
removed from the Fatherland to Nebraska 
City, Nebraska, at the age of twenty-five 
years, the date of her*birtli ha\ing been 
July 30, 1859. 

Mr. Ohning is an actix'c worker in the 
ranks of the Democratic party, and has 
served his party and the public in various 
positions of honor and im]iortance. In 



1899 ^""^ ^^''*s aijpointed to fill an unexpired 
term as justice of the peace, and since that 
time has been twice elected to the office for 
tenus of two years each. Such has 
been the high judicial character of his rul- 
ings on all points of law in matters submitted 
to his decision, that during this period no 
decision of his court has been reversed by 
a superior jurisdiction. For nine years he 
was clerk of the village of Franklin, and 
for the past six years has been secretarj' 
of the school board, a position which he 
occupies at the present time. This official 
record speaks loudl\- of the esteem he en- 
joys in the community in which he has his 
home. In a business way, he is a stock- 
holder of the German-American Telephone 
Company, of Houghton, Iowa. In all his 
enterprises he has been very successful, and 
the ability thus displayed, combined with 
his well-known character of integrity and 
frank and open methods in all his dealings, 
ha« made him many friends who give him 
tiieir confidence and profound respect. 



W. Q. DOERN, M. D. 

Among all the callings and professions 
into which human activity is divided, prob- 
ably a census of opinion would award the 
di.stinction of greatest and most direct use- 
fulness to the practice of medicine. Cer- 
tainh- no iirofession is held in higher honor 
or is more deserving from the viewpoint of 
the self-sacrifice involved. One of the 



222 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



\'ounger physicians and surgeons of Lee 
county who have shown greatest promise of 
future distinction is Dr. W. G. Doem, of 
Fort Ma<hson, who has Ijeen estabhshed in 
practice in that city since June i, 1902. 

Dr. Doern is a graduate of Keokuk ]\Ied- 
ical College and of Rush Medical College, 
now affiliated with the University of Chi- 
cago. . At the time this was written he was 
professor of pathologj' and of clinical diagno- 
sis in the College of Physicians and Sur- 
geons at Keokuk. Formerly he was lecturer 
on diseases of the stomach in the same 
school. As part of the preparation for his 
life work he at one time pursued a course of 
special surgical w-ork under the direction of 
Doctors Murphy and the famous Nicholas 
Senn, of Chicago, and also spent two years 
in Saint Joseph's hospital at Keokuk with 
Dr. Ruth. He is now de\'oting himself to 
.surgery and general medical practice, and 
his enthusiasm and high respect for the work 
have led him to install one of the most ex- 
tensive office equipments to be found any- 
where. A -thorough believer in modem 
ideas, he has spared neither money nor pains 
to secure all the latest appliances, and the 
mere mastery of the mechanical conve- 
niences by which he has surrounded himself 
would seem to indicate ability of an unusual 
order, 

Dr. Doern w;is born at Fond du Lac, 
\^'isconsin, of which place his parents are 
still residents, and there Ijegan liis educa- 
tion. The credit of his achievements is Ex- 
clusively his nwn. and he has throughout 
manifested a fl.xilv of ])uri)ose that may be 
considered remarkable. At the time of en- 
tering upon his course of the study of medi- 



cine he possessed but three hundred dollars 
in cash, and no other property, but consid- 
erations of difficulty were not allowed to 
interfere with the determination to succeed, 
and the position he has assumed here is an 
indication of satisfactory progress. Frater- 
nally Dr. Doern is connected with the 
Brotherhood of American Yeomen and with 
the Benevolent and Protective Order of 
Elks, and he is a member of the Congrega- 
tional church. He enjoys a gratifying 
measure of the public respect and esteem, 
and it is here \-entured to predict for him a 
high place on the roll of Lee county's dis- 
tinguished and useful citizens. 

Mr. Doern resigned the chair of Path- 
ology and Clinical diagnosis in the Keokuk 
Medical College September i, 1904, to ac- 
cei)t the chair of Anatomy and Clinical Sur- 
gery in the Milwaukee Medical College, Mil- 
waukee, Wisconsin, to which place he re- 
moved. 



CAPTAIN WASHINGTON QALLAND. 

\'v bile it is impossilile to determine what 
would ha\-e been the fate of Fort Madison 
liad not the Galland family established its 
home within the borders of the city, the 
historv of Lee county plainly indicates the 
\alue of the labi->r,s of Captain Galland. of 
this review, and of his honored father, 
{•"roni ])ioneer times down to the ])resent 
their efforts have had beneficial and far- 
reaching effect upon the i)ublic life, upon 
substantial upbuilding aufl consecutive prog- 




WASHINGTON GALI-AXH 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



^35 



ress, and Kiokiiiuf l)ey<)nil the exis^encies of 
the moment to the possiliilities of tlie future 
they have wrouglit along Hues tliat have 
benefited present generations and will ])rove 
most helpful for years to come. 

Captain Galland, whose office is located 
in the Hesse Ruilding, Fort Madison, was 
born, according to an account left by his 
father in the fly-leaf of the family Bible, at 
Lower Yellow Banks, now Oquawka. Hcn- 
de-!^on county, Illinois, July 20, 1827. An 
a'Tount given by a maternal uncle, George 
W. Kinney, says that he was l)orn there 
when his parents were on their way liy 
water from Yellow Banks to the present 
site of the City of Nauvoo. or at this place 
after the arrival of the parents, which was 
the home of his maternal grandfather, Peter 
Kinney, who was then residing at a point 
now known as the Hibbard Spring or Smith 
Grove, alxnit a mile below the present City 
of Xauvoo. His parents were Dr. Isaac and 
Hannah ( Kinney) Galland. In the winter 
of 1827-8 the father hired men to build a 
store house and dwelling on the west side 
of the Mississi])])i river a few miles down 
the stream from Naux'Do, at what is now 
called Galland. the place being then known 
as the head of the Des Moines Rapid of 
the Mississippi river, the Indian name being 
.\h-wi-pe-tuck, signifying beginning of the 
cascades. This was the first building 
erected at that imint. There was an Indian 
village about three miles above composed 
of the Sac and Fox tribes. The Indians had 
not yet relinguished their title to the land. 
rnid the white race, therefore, could not lo- 
cate there except by permission and for this 
Dr. Galland a]iplicd. It was about the latter 



part of 1828. or early in 1829, however, be- 
fore the pa])ers granting him permission 
reached him. and. therefore, it was not 
until that time that his family was installed 
at his new home. He was to have the priv- 
ilege of establishing a trading post for trade 
with the Indians, and also that he might 
supply steamers with wood, and in addition 
to his labors in these directions he was to 
practice medicine in the pioneer community. 
In the winter of 1830 several other families 
settled in the same district. Dr. Galland, 
with his white neighbors, realizing the need 
of educational privileges for their children, 
built a log schoolhouse. which was the tirst 
"temple of learning" in the territory of 
Iowa. The first teacher was Berryman Jen- 
nings, a scholarly gentleman, who was clerk- 
ing in a store for Dr. (jalland, anti also 
studying medicine with him. There were 
about sixteen or eighteen pupils, some of 
whom came from the Illinois side of the 
river, crossing the water either in canoe or 
on the ice, for at that time the river was 
frozen over for a mucli longer period each 
year that the ]iresent. In fact, the ice was 
so thick over the b'ather of Waters that 
teaming could be done on the ri\'er from 
Ouincy to Fort Madison. Captain (ialland 
was one of the ])upils in this little school, 
but of the number that attended at that early 
dav onlv four ai'e known to lie li\ing now. 
Captain Galland and Ca])t. J. W. Campbell, 
who are residents of I'ort Madison ; Benja- 
min Galland, a cousin, now Jiving in central 
Iowa, and a half-sister, Eliza Sturdevant 
Galknul, now Mrs. Eliza S. White, who lives 
at La Crosse, Wisconsin. 

In 1831 Dr. Galland's second wife tlied 



236 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



and was taken across the river into Illinois, 
being buried in a cemeten.^ within the pres- 
ent limits of the City of Xauvoo. About 
twenty years later, however, her remains 
were removed to Fort !\[adison cemetery. 
Ev Dr. Galland's first marriage there were 
three daughters, and l)y the second union 
there were two children ; \\'ashington and 
a \'ounger sister. Eleanor, was unquestion- 
ablv the first white child born in the ter- 
ritory now occupied by the State of Iowa, 
her birth occurring at Ah-wi-pe-tuck Jan- 
uarv 3. 1830. .\fter the death of the second 
wife, two daughters by the first marriage 
came to live with Dr. Galland, the elder 
taking charge of the household affairs. 

In 1832, on the breaking out of the 
Black Hawk W^v, Dr. Galland and many 
others fled to Fort Edward, now Warsaw, 
Illinois, and his property was left in the care 
of a young man, Samuel Brierly, who after- 
ward married the Doctor's eldest daughter. 
Most of the men joined the militia, and Dr. 
Galland rose to the rank of colonel, and was 
stationed at Fort Edward. Captain Galland 
has seen the commission which was issued 
to his father. 

In 1833 Dr. Galland was again married, 
wedding Miss Elizabeth Wilcox, of War- 
saw, a sister of his warm personal friend, 
Maj. John R. Wilcox, who was a graduate 
of West Point and an officer of the Regular 
Army, at one time in command of a detach- 
ment of troops at Fort Edward. He after- 
ward retired from military service and set- 
tled permanently at Warsaw. Illinois, where 
he was married. .\ daughter of that mar- 
riage, Mrs. Virginia \\'. Ivins, now lives at 
the corner of Second and Bloudeau streets. 



in Keokuk. After his third marriage Dr. 
Galland removed to Carthage, Illinois, where 
he remained a .short time. Later he traded 
that for a large stone house, two stories in 
height, on the bank of the ]Mississippi river,, 
now the present site of Xauvoo, which was 
known as the property of Capt. James M. 
White, the maternal grandfather of Capt. 
James W. Campbell, now of Fort Madison. 
There Dr. Galland lived until 1839. when he 
sold that property and other property to 
Sidney Rigdon and the Mormons. On the 
4th (if July. TS39. taking with him his fam- 
ily and household goods. Dr. Galland be- 
came a passenger on the steamer Brazil, 
bound for St. Louis, Missouri. There the 
part}- changed to an Ohio river boat and 
went to Portsmouth, Ohio, and thence by 
canal to Chillicothe, where they remained 
for several months. 

Washington Galland was only seven or 
eight years of age when the family located 
in Illinois, and up to the time of their re- 
moval to Ohio his education had been only 
such as could be obtained in log school- 
houses at different places. One year Dr. 
Galland had employed a private tutor, but 
after reaching Chillicothe our subject had 
the privilege of attending an academy. Dr. 
Galland was at that time interested with 
others in a tract of land of 120.000 acres in 
the sonth side of Lee county, known as the 
half-breed tract or reservation. While in 
Chillicothe he published a book and map. en- 
titled "Iowa Emigrant's Guide," which was 
intended to give information and to induce 
emigrants to the west side of the Missis- 
sippi river. The result of his efforts was 
that a large number of people emigrated to 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



237 



and settled in Iowa, many estal)lisliing 
homes in or near Keokuk. In 1840 Dr. Gal- 
land and his family returned to this state, 
locating at Keokuk, where he continued in 
the practice of medicine, which lousiness he 
had never ahandoned during all these years. 
He made his home in Keokuk until 1854. 
when, with his family, he went to California. 
making a trip overland with ox teams, and 
reaching his destination after several months 
of travel. In 1856, however, he again came 
to this state and located in Fort Madison, 
where lie dietl two }-ears later, his remains 
being interred in the Fort Madison cemetery, 
where has been erected a monument to his 
memory, and his second and third wives are 
also buried there. As a pioneer of Iowa 
his name is inseparably associated with its 
histor}', and not only did he establish one of 
the first homes and built the first school in 
Lee county, but he contributed in large 
measure, through his published work to its 
settlement, and along man)- lines aided in 
its substantial upbuilding, laying the founda- 
tion for its present progress and prosperity. 
On leaving Chillicothe. Ohio, Captain Gal- 
land came to Iowa, but later his father took 
him back to Ohio, placing him in school in 
.Vkron, which was then a village of about 
2.500 population. On leaving school he 
again came to Iowa, and when sixteen years 
of age he became a clerk on a river steamer 
plying between St. Louis and points on the 
upper Mississippi. After two years he be- 
gan working in a store at Alexandria, Mis- 
souri, and in the sjjringof 1847, at St. Louis, 
Missouri, he enlisted as a ])ri\ate of Com- 
pany .\, Third Missouri Mounted Volun- 
teers, under Lapt. George W. Lafayette Mc- 



Xair and Col. J. Ralls. On the march to 
Fort Leavenworth he stood guard one night 
ii\cr the horses, and was then detached as a 
clerk in the adjutant's office. After about a 
year he was appointed sergeant-major of a 
battalion and was continued until after the- 
last battle of the war was fought at Santa 
Cruz. He participated in that engagement, 
which. ]i(]we\-er, was the onlv battle in 
w-hich he took part. He was under fire 
there through the greater part of the day. 
This occurred in the State of Chihuahua, 
where he remained uiitil the fall of 1848, 
when his regiment returned to Independ- 
ence. Missouri, where he received an honor- 
able discharge. 

Following his leaving llie niilitary serv- 
ice Captain Galland retunied to his father's 
home in Keokuk, and in 1849 he again be- 
came a clerk on a steamer on the Missis- 
si]ipi, plying in its u]iper waters. Next year 
with the same employers, but on a new 
steamer he entered the Missouri river, going 
to points as far as St. Joseph. There was 
an immense business being done, as Cali- 
fornia emigration made travel heaw. He 
followed the river until 1856, and then, at 
his father's solicitation, located in Fort Mad- 
ison. After a short tinie, however, he went 
to Montrose, where he accepted the agency 
for the sale of town lots, the owners living 
in St. Louis. Captain Galland began the 
study of law while living in Montrose, and 
completed his reading under the direction of 
Rankin, Miller & Enster, a leading firm of 
attorneys, of Keokuk. In 1858 he w-as ad- 
mitted by examination to practice in all of 
the courts of the state, and in the federal 
courts, and he opened a law otTice in Mont- 



238 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



rose, and also engaged in practice in Keokuk 
and Fort Madison. 

In April. 1861. at the first tliree years' 
call for men. Captain Galland recruited, or- 
ganized and drilled a company for service. 
and at his own expense, quartered and fed 
them for two months until they were ac- 
cepted 1)V the national government and 
ordered to Burlington to be mustered into 
the United States service as Company H, of 
the Sixth Regiment of Iowa Volunteers. 
They were sent to Jefiferson Barracks and 
later to St. Louis. They did not get su])plies 
and arms, however, for two months. At the 
end of that time they became a part of Gen- 
eral Fremont's army, and took part in his 
campaign through southwestern Missouri to 
S])ringfiel(l. After General Fremont was 
superceded they were sent to Sedalia, Mis- 
souri, and during the winter of 1861-2 
guarded railways and bridges between that 
place and .Syracuse, Missouri. In March. 
1862. they were ordered to St. Louis and 
taken by transport to Cairo. Illinois, thence 
up the Ohio and Tennessee rivers to Pitts- 
l)urg Landing, becoming part of Sherman's 
di\ision of Grant's Army. There thev had 
tlieir baptism of fire on the memorable 6th 
of April, 1862. During the engagement 
Captain Galland and sixteen of his own 
company and thirty-two members of the 
regiment \\ere captured, being taken Sotith 
as prisoners of war. .\t ^lemphis he be- 
came ill, and was sent to the Confederate 
Hospital. After being at Mobile for ten 
days he was transferred to Tuscaloosa ; was 
for one week at Macon, Georgia, and for one 
month at Madison. Georgia, where he and 
liis comrades remained until thev received 



notice that they were ordered to RichniDud 
for parole and transportation witiiin the 
Lnion lines. This was in Xovemljer, 1862. 
after having been held as a prisoner for seven 
months. Captain Galland passed through 
the capitals of South Carolina. Georgia and 
North Carolina, and when in Richmond 
was for one night in Libby prison. He suf- 
fered many hardships incident to Southern 
prison life, but at Aikens Landing he saw 
again the stars and stripes, and for the first 
time in months drank good cof¥ee with real 
sugar in it. The}' were sent to Fortress 
Monroe, thence to Annapolis, Maryland, and 
on to Washington, and after a few days re- 
ceived notice that they could go home and 
there await the notice of exchange and 
further orders, .\bout a month later he was 
told to rejoin his command at Grand Junc- 
tion, Tennessee, under Gen. Sooy Smith, 
confronting General Chalmers. In June, 
1863, on account of disability and l)eing in- 
formed that he would have to submit to a 
dangerous operation. Captain Galland con- 
cluded to resign, and by special order of 
General Grant his resignation was accepted, 
to date from June 20, 1863. He then re- 
turned to his home in Montrose, Iowa. At 
Shiloh he had received a slight wound in 
the left wrist, caused by a fragment of shell. 
After recovering his health Captain Gal- 
land resumed the practice of law and soon 
won creditable success at the bar. In the 
fall of 1863 he was elected to the general 
assembly from Lee county for a term of two 
years. He served on several committees and 
introduced a number of bills, some of which 
were passed. Some also failed, including 
one for the establishment of a reformed 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



239 



scliodl for hoys for each congressional dis- 
trict, hut at a later date this hecame a law of 
the state. After the close of that Iegisiati\c 
session he engaged to go to southwestern 
Missouri to close up the affairs of several 
l)ranches of a St. Louis lianis. lie took a 
contract for five counties, and this work re- 
quired five years. His health l)ecoming im- 
jjaired during that time, he went to Cali- 
fornia hy order, remaining four years on the 
Pacific slope, during which time he was 
greatly benefited. Upon his return to Iowa 
in 1880 he located -in Montrose. He was in 
Washington. District of Columbia, when 
President (iarfield was shot and saw him 
carried out on a stretcher. He also saw 
Guiteau, the assassin. Since his return to 
Lee county he has continuously engaged in 
the practice of law. real estate and loans, 
and stands today as one of the most ca- 
pable members of the Lee County Bar, and ' 
also successful as a real estate dealer. 

Captain Galland has been a stanch Re- 
publican since the war. His father was a 
\\ big in early life, and when he Ijecame a 
supporter of Fremont Captain Galland gave 
his allegiance to Democracy, but soon after- 
ward changed and voted the Republican 
ticket. In his religious faith he is an Epis- 
copalian. He became a member of the Ma- 
sonic fraternity at Montrose, filled all of the 
chairs in the Blue Lo<lge; became a mem- 
ber of the Chapter and Commandery at Keo- 
kuk, and has occu])ied all of the offices in 
both capitular and chivalric Masonry. He 
is likewise a member of the Knights of 
Pythias fraternity and in that as in the Odd 
Fellows Lodge, to which he belongs, has 
filled all of the chairs. He holds mcmber- 



shi]) in Lipliest Post, (irand .\rniy of the 
kepulilic, which was named in honor of a 
conu'ade of Company H, who was the first 
meiuber of the company to die. His has 
l)een an eventful career, and he has intimate 
knowledge of many of the important events 
which have shaped the policy, promoting 
u])building and formulating the historv of 
Iowa. His influence has ever been a factor 
for good and his name is deeply inscribed 
on the keystone of the arch of its honored 
])iuneers. 



GEORGE B. STEWART. 

George Bourdillon Stewart, a leading 
attorney of b'ort Madison, Iowa, was born 
in the City of Burlington June 16, 1865, the 
son of Rev. George Dillon Stewart and Em- 
i!\-. Stewart (Walker) Stewart. When 
about six years of age he removed with his 
parents to Om;iba, Nebraska, where his fa- 
ther was pastor of the First Presbyterian 
church. At that place he first entered the 
public schools, and after his twelfth 
year continued his education in the 
])i,blic schools of l'\)rt Madison, his father 
ha\-ing remo\-ed to this city to assume the 
pastorate of the L'nion Presbyterian church, 
a position which he voluntarily resigned 
January i. 1904. after a continuous pas- 
torate of twenty-seven years. At the age 
of fourteen he entered the academy at Den- 
mark. Lee county, the oldest incorporated 
institution of learning in Iowa, it having re- 
cei\ed its charter in 1843. After two years 



240 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



in that school he became a student at Lake 
Forrest Academy, near Chicago, and later 
at Cheltenham Academy, near Philadelphia. 
In 1882 he matriculated in the University 
of Pennsylvania, and pursued a course of 
study until his health failed, in his junior 
3-ear, and he was compelled to defer all edu- 
cational projects for about one year. Dur- 
ing this time, however, he was not idle, but 
acted as editor of the Fort Madison Plain- 
dealer, one of the older Republican newspa- 
pers of the city. 

Having decided to devote his life to the 
profession of law, Mr. Stewart entered the 
law school of the University of Michigan 
in 1S86, and was graduated with the class 
of '88. Immediately after his graduation 
he associated himself in partnership with 
Sabert I\I. Casey, and together they con- 
tinuetl in the practice of law in this city un- 
til the death of ]\Ir. Casey in 1903. At the 
present time Mr. Stewart occupies a hand- 
some suite of offices in the Lee County Sav- 
ings Bank building, where he enjoys a large 
and lucrative general practice. His position 
in the profession is now one of prominence, 
and he ranks as one of the better known at- 
torneys of southern Iowa. He acts as attor- 
ney for a number of large corporations, 
among others the Street Railway Company 
of Fort Madison and the Iowa Farming Tool 
Company. He was general attorney for the 
Chicago, Fort Madison & Des Moines Rail- 
way Company until the merging of that 
corporation with the Chicago, Burlington 
& Quincy system. In March. 1898, he 
was appointed by President McKinley as-' 
sistant United States Attorney for the 
Southern Iowa District, a position which 



he still holds. Necessarily, however, his 
principal activities are mainly local, and he 
has been connected in some capacity with 
all the important and celebrated law cases 
in Fort ^ladison since he began practice in 
this city. 

On June 25, 1889, Mr. Stewart was 
united in marriage at Fort Madison to Miss 
Adele Kretsinger, who is a native of Chi- 
cago and the daughter of W. H. and Marie 
(Ramsdell) Kretsinger. Mr. Kretsinger 
was a native of Herkimer county and Mrs. 
Kretsinger of Utica, New York, and they 
located in Fort Madison in 1870. Mr. 
Kretsinger was president of the Iowa Farm- 
ing Tool Company, of this city. To Mr. 
and Mrs. Stewart has been born one son, 
Alan Kretsinger Stewart, born in Fort 
Madison May 11, 1896. 

Mr. Stewart is a Republican, and con- 
siders that he holds membership in that 
party by birthright. His maternal grand- 
father. Joel C. W'alker, was a delegate to 
the Chicago convention of i860 which nomi- 
nated Abraham Lincoln for the presidency 
of the United States, and received from Mr. 
Lincoln appointment as collector of internal 
revenue for the Iowa district, a position 
which he held until after the accession of 
President Johnson. Not being i'n sympathy 
witli the policies adopted by the latter, how- 
ever, he w^as removed. Mr. Stewart cast 
his first ballot for Benjamin Harrison in 
1888. While he has never aspired to public 
office, he has ser\-ed his party a number 
of times as delegate to various conventions, 
and is an active and zealous worker in the 
ranks. Fraternally, he is a member of the 
Benevolent an<l Protective Order of Elks. 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



241 



In his religious connection, he was reared 
in the Presbyterian faith, and became a full 
■communicant in January', 1904. He has in- 
timate connection with the material inter- 
ests of Fort Madison, both through his pro- 
fession and by direct financial interest, be- 
ing a director and stockholder of the Iowa 
Fanning Tool Company. He is recognized 
as a man of learning, integrity and great 
practical ability, and these qualities have 
won him success and the respect of all with 
whom he comes in contact. 



JACOB HAISCH. 



Among that valuable class of citizens 
known as German-American, none has 
l)een more worthy than Jacob Haisch, 
who was highly esteemed throughout 
Lee county, where he passed the greater 
portion of his life. Mr. Haisch was 
born in Germany, and coming to 
America at the age of fourteen years, 
he was later joined by his parents, who were 
farmers by occupation, and here he grew 
to manhood, but before he was eighteen 
years of age the great Civil War had begun 
and was well in progr'ess, and with the con- 
sent of his parents he went to the front to 
fight the battles of his adopted country. In 
1862 he enlisted at Keokuk in Company A, 
Nineteenth Iowa Infantry, under Captain 
John Bruce and Colonel Crali, and served 
for three years with the Army of the Gulf, 
enduring many hardships and taking part 
in much active service, among the more fa- 
mous battles in which he was engaged being 



those of Prairie Grove, the siege of Vicks- 
liurg, Mobile and Spanish Fort. He was 
the bunkmate of Bendix Reimers, of Keo- 
kuk, and at New Orleans was sent home 
on account of sickness, which saved him 
from the fate that befell Mr. Reimers and 
others of his comrades, as they were taken 
prisoners at the battle of Sterling Plantation 
during his absence, and were held prisoners 
for six months at Tyler, Texas. He re- 
turned, however, and served out his three 
years' term of enlistment, being mustered 
out of the sen'ice at Mobile, in 1865, at 
which time he was under the command of 
Captain Sproatt and Colonel Bruce, He 
was a model soldier, who neither used in- 
toxicating liquors nor tobacco in any form, 
and he regularly seirt his pay home to his 
parents, who used it to purchase land, and 
upon his honorable discharge he returned 
home and took up the business of farming. 
In 1869 Mr. Haisch was united in mar- 
riage to Miss Mary Krum, who was born in 
Germany and came to .\merica when only 
one year old. and to them were born two 
sons and five daughters, as follows : Bar- 
bara, wife of Adam Seabolt; Kate, wife of 
Joseph O'Blenness; Emnia, wife of George 
Voss; Lena, wife of Harry Wyatt; Flossie, 
who resides with her mother, and John and 
Jacob A., both of whom are dead. Mr. 
Haisch always provided with great liberality 
for all the needs of his family, as he was 
well able to do, he being very successful as 
a farmer and in all he undertook. At the 
time of his death he owned over 300 acres 
of excellent farming lands, which have since 
been apportioned among his daughters, with 
the exception of 103 acres now owned by 



242 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



Airs. Haiscli. The death of Mr. Haisli, 
which occurred in 1893, at the end of a 
year's ilhiess, was caused by chronic diar- 
rhoea contracted while in the army, and 
thus he gave his Hfe for his country as 
many have been proud to_ do who were born 
upon its soil. He was universally respected 
as one of the leading farmers of Lee county 
and as a man of great ability and unimpeach- 
able character, and had many friends who 
mourned his loss, and followed him to his 
final resting place in Oakland cemetery with 
sincere regret for the untimely end of his 
earthly career. He was a faithful member 
of the German Lutheran church, as is also 
Mrs. Haisch, his widow, and was a valued 
worker in Torrence Post of the Grand Army 
of the Republic, at Keokixk. He was a man 
of peculiarly modest disposition, and never 
cared to hold public office, but his friends 
and fellow citizens elected him a number of 
times to the office of school director, in 
which his practical ability proved of much 
benefit to the community. Mrs. Haisch 
is a pleasant lady of entertaining conver- 
sational powers, and her home is known as 
the center of a generous though quiet hospi- 
tality. 



CALVIN T. MILLER. 



Calvin T. Miller, who for a number of 
years has been well known as a general con- 
tractor of Keokuk, was born in Champaign 
county, Ohio, June 15, 1844, his parents 
being John and Sarah (Allen) Miller, the 



former a native of • Pennsylvania and the 
latter of Ohio. Mr. Miller was descended 
from Pennsylvania Dutch ancestrj', while 
his wife was of English lineage and was a 
grand niece of Ethan Allen, the distin- 
guished patriot of Vermont. They were 
married in Ohio and became the parents 
of ten children : Calvin T. ; Julia, de- 
ceased: John, of Ohio; ALary, the wife of 
Newton Byers, of Ohio ; Jane, the wife of 
Will Xash, of Kansas; Newton, of Ohio; 
Ida. the wife of Daniel Gannon, of Keokuk; 
Milan, of Ohio; Rebecca, the wife of 
George Van Ostran, of Ohio; and Minnie^ 
deceased. 

Calvin T. Miller was reared in the state 
01 Iiis nativity, pursued his education in a 
district school and spent his boyhood days 
upon the home farm. In early manhood he 
responded to his country's call for aid, en- 
listing when but twenty years of age, in 
1864, as a memljer of Company C, One 
Hundred and Thirty-fourth Ohio Infantry,, 
under Captain Johnson and Colonel Arm- 
strong, of the Army of the Cumberland. 
He spent some time in the vicinity of Rich- 
mond. Virginia, doing provost duty and on 
the skirmish line, and was discharged in 
September, 1864. In the year 1866 he re- 
nioN'ed to Macon county, Missouri, where 
he rented a tract of land and carried on agri- 
cultural pursuits. He afterward engaged 
with the \Vabash Railroad Company for 
four or five years as a bridge builder, part 
of the time acting as foreman. In 1882 he 
came to Keokuk and for several years con- 
ducted the feed yard for the Wabash Rail- 
road. He then entered into Inisiness rela- 
tions with the Keokuk & Western Road on 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



-'43 



construction, hauling dirt and buildingvvood, 
and erecting bridges, etc., for eiglit years. 
In 1902 lie retired from connection with the 
railroad, has since done levee work, also 
handled sand and to some extent engages in 
fanning, having a tract of land of thirty- 
three acres. 

Air. Aliller was united in marriage on 
the 5th of September, 1865, in Alechanics- 
burg, Ohio, to Miss Florence Shepherd, who 
was born in Champaign county, Ohio, Sep- 
tember 19, 1847, ^c parents being Jasper 
and Susan (Taylor) Shepherd. Her father, 
boni in Ohio, was a representati\e of an old 
Kentucky family, while her mother was a 
native of Massachusetts. In their family 
were six children: Clarence, who resides 
in Kansas City, Missouri; Mrs. Miller; 
Josephine, the wife of Zepeniah Atter- 
berry, of Texas; Edward, who is li\-ing in 
Hardin, Missouri ; Elizabeth, the widow of 
Alelvin Broeffle, and a resident of Atlanta, 
Missouri ; and Birdie, the wife of Walter 
Baldwin, of Stanberry, Missouri. Four chil- 
dren have been Ijorn unto Mr. and Mrs. 
Aliller: W'illiam C, the eldest, born July 
15, 1868, resides near Alexandria, Mis- 
souri. He married Libby Sage, and has 
one daughter, Florence. Charles C. Miller, 
born July 15, 1872, married Nellie Turner, 
by whom he has two daughters, Frances and 
Mildred. He resides in Centerville, Iowa, 
and is employed as brakeman on the Keokuk 
& Western Road. Frederick .A. Aliller, 
born October 10, 1876, a brakeman on the 
Wabash road, wedded Mary Appleton, of 
Aloberly, Alissouri, and has one son, Fred 
Eugene. Jasper J. Miller, born January 
21, 1882, married Hattie Appleton and lives 
in Keokuk. 

15 



Air. Aliller is a member of tlie Grand 
Army of the Republic, and his wife is con- 
nected with the Woman's Relief Corps and 
with the Eastern Star. They contribute to 
the support of the Alethodist Episcopal 
church, of which they are members. His 
political allegiance is given to the Repub- 
lican party and he has ever been progressive 
and loyal in citizenship, desiring the great- 
est good for the greatest number. 



JOHN C. SCOTT. 



John C. ,'^cott, the present active and ef- 
ficient Alayor of Alontrose, Lee county, be- 
longs to the numl)er of the bright and ear- 
nest young men who believe in doing things, 
and are ah^ays ready to help forward any 
worthy enterprise. Such men are the life 
of the community in which they live. There 
are always enough to clog the wheels of 
progress; enough timid and irresolute souls 
to cling to the present rather than to dare 
the more splendid tomorrow. The men who 
dare the future, who are willing to take 
risks, and devise enterprises to enrich the 
the world, and help the town and the nation 
forward, are the real benefactors of their 
day and generation, and should long be re- 
niemljered. Upon a small scale they are 
leaders in town and village; upon a large 
scale they are in legislative halls and execu- 
tive chairs, and deal with great things, but 
the quality is the same : It is courage and 
faith in the men, and confidence in the fu- 
ture, and belief in the eternal order of prog- 



244 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



ress. To tliis order belongs tlie present 
Mayor of I\Iontrose. He dares and does, 
pushes things forward, and is a lielpint; 
iiand to whatever promises improvement in 
tlie existing order. 

Mr. Scott was liorn in Harrison county, 
Indiana, in 1864, and secured a com- 
mon-school education in Leavenworth, 
where he remained until he reached 
the age of twenty-three, being engaged 
in his earlier manhood in clerking. 
In 1887 he came into Iowa, and en- 
tered the employ of Walker ]\Iiller, at that 
time a very prominent civil engineer, in 
Fort Madison. This profession attracted 
him ^'cry much, and he Ijegan preparation 
for it as his life work, but he was offered 
an engagement in the bridge building de- 
partment of the Santa Fe Railroad. This he 
later gave up. and in 1891 came to Mont- 
rose, where for some hve years he was en- 
gaged in the hotel and restaurant business. 
For the last five years Mr. Scott has been 
associated with the Modern Woodmen of 
.\mcrica. acting in the capacity of district 
deputy, his special work being in the build- 
ing up of the membership of societies al- 
ready established, though he was very suc- 
cessful in the establishment of Franklin 
Camp, Xo. 6032. For some eight or ten 
years he has been writing fire insurance, and 
practically handles all the business in that 
line in Montrose. Mr. Scott is a member of 
Park liluff Camp, Xo. S53, Modern Wood- 
men of .-Xmerica, and of the Montrose Lodge 
of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. 
He is also connected with the Daughters of 
Rebekah, of that order. 

Mr. Scott was married in 1899, to Miss 



Alice Stephens, a daughter of I. C. Ste- 
phens, of Montrose, where she was born and 
reared. She is a prominent member of the 
Daughters of Rebekah, in which she holds 
a place on the Degree Team. In 1904 .she 
was a delegate to the Grand Lodge, held at 
Mason City, where .she acquitted herself 
very credi'tably. Mr. Scott has been pre- 
x'iously married, having been united in mat- 
rimony in 1887, to Miss Dovie Conrad, 
mIio died in 1892, leaving one child, Claude 
C, who died in 1900, at the age of twelve 
}ears. Their remains rest in the cemetery 
at Leavenworth, Indiana. 

Mr. Scott is a Republican, and is much 
interested in the worl-cing machinery of his 
part}'. He has been twice elected Mayor of 
Montrose, where his zealous public spirit is 
much appreciated. In 1897 he, with others, 
built the Montrose Hotel, a two-stoiy brick 
building, on River street, which cost about 
$4,500, and is one of the conveniences of the 
town. Before his election as Mayor there 
had been no celebration of the 4th of July 
for nineteen years. He put an end to this 
apathy, and stirred up a feeling of patriot- 
ism, so that all entered into the great national 
holiday heartily and unreservedly. He has 
taken an active ])art in the location of sev- 
eral important business undertakings, such 
as the establishment of a button factory and 
a canning factory, and by general consent is 
a leader in all forward movements. 

The mother of Mr. Scott is now living 
in Enid, Oklahoma, where her only daugh- 
ter, Clara, the wife of James laacs, has her 
home. There also lives her other son, W. H. 
Scott. 

The father of Mr. Scott was a farmer. 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



245 



who was l)orn at Xew .\nisterdaiii, Indiana. 
He died aliout three hours before the sub- 
ject of this article was born. As a fatherless 
lad J. C. Scott has had to make his way in 
the world, and may well l)e congratulated 
upon tile very substantial results that have 
attended his active and industrious career. 



JOHN INQERSOLL DAY. 

.\mong- the better and more prominent 
agriculturists, whose pleasant farm homes 
grace Denmark township. Lee coimty, and 
indicate the persistent industry and the thrift 
that have brought them success in their hard 
laliors. may be placed the name of the gen- 
tleman, whose life history is given herewith 
to tlie readers of this volume. He has made 
a success of his vocation, and has long been 
widely known as one of the enterprising 
and intelligent men of this township. For 
many years his home has been in Iowa, and 
he has gathered about him a host of friends, 
whd know him as a gentleman of the high- 
est ch.aracter. His estate is one of the first 
in the community, and it is through ]">erse- 
verence, honesty and industry, liis three 
watcli-wnrds, that he has gained a very com- 
fortable competence.. 

Mr. Day was born at Sheffield, Lorain 
county, Ohio, November 27, 1838. a son 
of John and Cornelia M. (Sackett) Day, both 
born and reared in Massachusetts. The 
father went from Sheffield', Berkshire coun- 
ty, where he was born and reared, when he 
was fifteen years of age, in 18 16, to Shef- 



field, Ohio, where he met and married Cor- 
nelia Sackett, and there they lived and died. 

John I. Day was their second child to 
reach maturitw He was given good edu- 
cational advantages, and was a student in 
Oberlin College. He remained at home and 
assisted his father upon the farm until 1859. 
That year he came west on a visit to Kel- 
log Day, an uncle, who had been very suc- 
cessful in his labors in Lee county. Mr. 
Day was pleased with the country, charmed 
with its promise, and decided to make it 
his home. Back in Ohio he had already 
taught school two winters, and here he con- 
tinued teaching, engaging as a clerk during 
the summer in the mercantile establishment 
of Day & Ingalls. About this time he con- 
tracted the "Pike's Peak fever," and in the 
month of October, i860, crossed the plains 
with a cattle team, starting from Nebraska 
City, and safely making what was then a 
very dangerous journey. He remained in 
Colorado some four years, and then spent 
six years in Montana, after which he was 
ready to return to Denmark township, and 
resume the peaceful and uneventful life of 
the Iowa ailtivator of the soil. While in 
the West he did various things to keep busy 
and earn money. In Colorado he was mostly 
engaged in mining, but in Montana did 
farming on (|uite a large scale. 

Air. Day was married in 1870 to Miss 
May Elizabeth Brown. She was a daugh- 
ter of William Brown, and a sketch of her 
brother, E. H. Brown, appears on another 
page of this work. Her father was one of 
the early settlers of this county, and at one 
time was a considerable landowner, having 
title to four hundred acres. 

The different heirs have been bought out 



246 



' BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



by Mr. Day until he now owns 250 acres 
of the old Brown farm. Part of the house 
in which he lives was the first frame house 
t(j be put up in Denmark township. All the 
details of the old farm property have been 
rearranged by him, the entire place greatly 
remodeled and improved, and the place is 
now pronounced one of the most desirable in 
the township. 

To ]\Ir. anil Airs. Day have come no 
children, but they have an adopted daughter 
on whom they have lavished tender care 
and affection. She was taken by them when 
only ten weeks old. and given their name, 
Lillian A. Day. She was born in North 
Carolina, and was a daughter of Mr. and 
Mrs. Peebles. Her mother died when she 
was but two weeks old. She is now the 
Avife of Charles Wharton, and is the mother 
of one daughter, Mildred Day Wharton. 
Mrs. Day was born and reared in Denmark 
township, and received her education in 
Denmark Academy. She taught school for 
several years, and was married in the house 
in which her life has since been spent. 

Mr. Day is a Republican in his political 
affiliations, and has been trustee of Den- 
mark township for five years. He has com- 
pleted one term as justice of the peace, and 
has proved himself a capable and impartial 
administrator of the law. He is a member 
of the Congregational church, and has 
served that body as trustee and as deacon 
for many years. Both he and Mrs. Wharton 
have served as trustees of the Academy, Mr. 
Wharton also filling the position of treas- 
urer of that institution, from which both 
himself and wife were graduated. 

Mr. Day is engaged in general farming, 



though he devotes much attention to dairy- 
ing and the breeding of hogs and cattle for 
the stock markets. He is a wide-awake 
and enterprising farmer; and despite the 
weight of years, is still alert and vigorous. 



MARTIN MURPHY. 

Martin Murphy, .who is now living re- 
tireil, belongs to that class of citizens who 
win the admiration and respect of all by 
what the\- have accomplished through in- 
dividual effort and along honorable lines. 
Mr. Alurphy is entirely a self-made man 
and all that he has enjoyed and possessed 
has been won through well-directed labor, 
guided by sound l)usiness judgment. He 
was born in IreL'uul on the lith of Novem- 
ber, 1838, his birthplace being in Queens 
county, about thirty-three miles west of 
Dublin. His father, James ]\lur])hy, died 
in Ireland in 1855 and three years later his 
widow with her children came to the United 
States. She bore the maiden name of Helen 
Delaney and was born in Ireland, her peo- 
ple, however, coming at an early day to 
America and settling in New "^'ork. Those 
of the family yet living are Maggie, of 
Monroe county, Iowa ; Julia, now of Cali- 
fornia ; Kate, also of California, and Bridget, 
of New York. Patrick Delaney, one of the 
maternal uncles of our subject, had the con- 
tract for opening up Johnston street, the first 
street opened up in Keokuk. William De- 
laney, an uncle, was killed by the caving in 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



2A7 



of an embankment while Blondeau street 
was being' opened up. It was their sister, 
Helen, who became the wife of James Mur- 
phy. She (lied in 1884 after a long- resi- 
dence in Keokuk. The living members of 
her family are Patrick Murphy, a resident 
of this city; Mrs. Maggie Furlong and Mrs. 
.\nnie Kellev, also of Keokuk, and ^Irs. 
Man- E. Donnelly, of Chicago. 

Tn his native country Martin Murphy ac- 
quired his education by attending the public 
schools. He afterward worked at a brick 
yard for eight years, for it was necessary 
that he start out in life on his own account 
when still quite young. He was twenty 
years of age when, on the nth of June, 
1858, he embarked on a sailing vessel, the 
"Da\-id Clinton," for New York, reaching 
that harbor after thirty-one days spent upon 
the .\tlantic. He then proceeded westward 
by train to Keokuk and the same year began 
teaming for wholesale stores, continuing in 
that business until 1901. He at first had 
but one team, but later used four teams in 
the conduct of his business. He worked for 
Samuel A. Kerry for forty-four years, for 
A. \\'e1)er for thirty years, for J. F. Dough- 
erty, forty-six years for the City Milling 
Company and the Warsaw Milling Com- 
pany. In 1901 he traded his business to a 
Hamilton, Illinois, nian for a farm in Clark 
coiuity, ^lissouri, covering one hundrctl and 
twenty acres of improved land which he 
now rents. As the years passed by and his 
financial resources increased he made some 
investment in realty and in 1862 he built 
the home at No. 302 South Fourtli street, 
which he has since occupied. He now owns 
two double houses and one single house in 
Keokuk. 



In 1868 Mr. Murphy was married in 
Keokuk to Miss Jane Nelson, who was born 
in Couny Clare, Ireland, and in her girl- 
h(K)d days came to this city. They have 
three children : \\'illiam, who is now en- 
gaged in merchandising in Chicago; James, 
a bookkeeper of Keokuk ; and Anna, a suc- 
cessful teacher, who has been employed in 
connection with educational work in vari- 
ous schools in Lee county. Mr. Murphy is 
a member of St. Peter's Catholic church 
and I)clongs to the Catholic Mutual Protec- 
tive Society. His political support is given 
tb.e Democracy, for on becoming a natural- 
ized citizen he concluded that the platform 
of that party contained the best elements of 
good government. He has never yet had 
occasion to regret his determination to seek 
a home in the new world, for he found the 
business opportunities which he sought and 
has gradually progressed toward the goal 
of success. He has also raised a good fam- 
ily, (if which he has every reason to be 
proud. In the evening of life he is now liv- 
ing retired, enjoying a well-earned rest, the 
income from his property being sufficient 
to supply him with all of the necessities and 
manv of the luxuries of life. 



THOMAS J. CASE. 



Those who are coming on the stage of 
action, and laying bold of llio implements of 
industrv and the weapons of power that the 
])assing generation is laying down, should al- 
ways think tenderly of them. The pioneers 



24^ 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



in the settlement of a community are en- 
titled to peculiar re\erence. as they have 
made possible comfort and ease by their sac- 
rifice and hard labor. Because the men of 
the "forties and 'fifties dared such large and 
nol)le enterprises, striking out into the prai- 
ries, and cutting loose from the great centers 
of trade and indu.stry. that new centers 
might arise and new states be made, do we 
ha\e the great West today in all its mag- 
nificent splendor. The men who settled 
southeastern Iowa were cast in a heroic 
mould, and should be long and gratefully 
remembered by those who come after and 
occupy seals of ease where they toiled and 
endured greatly, .\mong the few remaining 
of the old and sturdy pioneers is the man 
whose name introduces this article. 

Thomas J. Case, who is now a resident 
of Vincennes, Des Moines township, Lee 
county, is a son of Horatio and ]\Iary 
(Thomas) Case. He was born in Augusta, 
Kentucky, July 4. 1827. His father was 
born in Virginia, and was an early settler 
in Kentucky, where he followed the car- 
penter trade v.hen he was not engaged in 
farming. He lived to be seventy-eight years 
of age, and finally passed to his rest in the 
village of Vincennes. The Thomas family 
lived near .Augusta. Kentucky, and there the 
mother of Thomas J. Case was born and 
married. To Horatio Case and wife were 
born the following children : George \\'., 
James AI.. \\'alter, who died a youth; Lu- 
cinda, who innrried Klisha Harris, and later 
Daniel Comstock : Matilda, the wife of James 
Decker, died in Indiana; Thomas J., whose 
name introduces this article, and Augustus 
D.. now a resident of Seymour, Iowa. 



Horatio Case, in company with his son, 
.Augustus, and his son-in-law, Daniel Com- 
stock, £ame to Iowa, and effected a settle- 
ment in Des Moines township, in 1853. 
Three years Inter the subject of this sketch, 
and his wife came to what was then more a 
land of promise than of reality. Mrs. Hor- 
atio Case died in 1873, at about the age of 
seventy-three. The year that his father 
came to Iowa. James Madison Case went to 
California. George W. died in Indiana. 

Thomas J. Case married Mary J. Mc- 
Bride. in Dearborn county. Indiana, Xo\em- 
ber 24. 11X50. She was born August 6, 
1833, and was a daughter of Robert and 
Sarah (I-"uller) McBride. Her father was 
born in Dearborn county. Indiana, and was 
a son of Hugh McBride. Sarah Fuller Mc- 
Bride was also a native of Dearborn county. 
They had but one child, and after his death 
she married John I'oster, to whom she l)ore 
five children. This was while they lived in 
Indiana. They came to Iowa in 1856. 
George Foster, Mrs. Case's steplirother, 
served in an Illinois regiment during the 
Civil War. and died of sickness. Lewis 
Foster, a half-brother, was also a soldier in 
the I'nion army. Samuel Fuller, a brother 
of Mrs. Case's mother, served in the Mex- 
ican War. Lewis Harrison, an uncle of 
Mrs. T. J. Case's mother, is said to have 
served in the War of 1812. Mrs. Foster 
lived to l)e about seventy years of age. and 
passed to her rest some twenty-eight years 
ago. 

To Mr. and Mrs. Case were born nine 
children, of whom four lived to reach ma- 
turitv : Augustus, who married Amanda 
Best, is a resident of California; Sarah F., 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



249 



tlie wife of W. \\\ Newberry, of whom a 
sketch may be found in another place in 
this wori< : L.ewis, wlio married Belle Best, 
and is a farmer in California; Ann Frances 
died when seven years old; Thomas Elmer 
married ]\Iinnie Robertson, and lives in 
Des Moines townshiii. Mrs. Case is a mem- 
ber of the Methodist Episcopal church, and 
very highh- regarded liy all who know hcr 
best. 

]\lr. Case took sides with the Democratic 
party in all matters relating to general and 
national topics, but in local cjuestions has 
felt that the fitness of the candidate for the 
position was the determining issue. He has 
led a long and useful life, and now in his 
advanced years is much revered in the 
communitv where he lives. 



ABRAHAM B. NEWBERRY. 

Abraham B. Newberry, now deceased, 
was a son of James A. and Mary (Smith) 
Newberry. an<l was born in Orange county. 
New Vorkr March i, i8r6. While he was 
still a lad his parents removed to the West, 
and made settlement in Missouri. Tn 183S 
he came with his father and brothers from 
that state, and made a home for himself in 
what is now Des Moines township. Lee 
county, Iowa. Here he invested in land. 
and before his death became the projjrietor 
of over 1,700 acres, which consisted mainlv 
of very desirable farm land, and part of 
which \\as known in early times as the 
"lialf-breed tract." 



.\brahrun B. Newberry was married in 
Des Moines township. January i. 1842, to 
Miss Eliza Duty, a native of Newberry, Ver- 
mont. She was lx)rn October 24, 1824, and 
accompanied her parents, Israel and Me- 
hitable (Sawyer) Duty, both Vermont born 
and bred. I^hey located in Des Moines 
townshi|) in 1839, and became very pros- 
perous. Farming was their life business. 
Her father died in Peaksville, Missouri. To 
the marriage of Mr. Newberry and Eliza 
Duty were burn three children: Orson O., 
Charles, who married and lives in Argyle; 
Rosaline is no\\- deceaseil. 

After a long and useful life, Mr. New- 
berry passed to his rest at his home in Des 
Moines township, August i. 1898, his 
widow surviving until 1904. He was an 
active and hard-working man. a good citizen 
and a kind neighbor, and those who knew 
him best, speak of him in the highest temis. 
He was largely engaged in stockraising. and 
was very fond of fine cattle and horses. To 
him. it is said, his neighborhood was greatly 
indebted for fine strains of equine blood. He 
was prominent in many ways in the com- 
munity in wbicli he lived, and from time 
to time held local offices of honor and re- 
-sponsibility. In politics he was a Repub- 
lican, and in the more exciting times of the 
past was outspoken and active in his cham- 
pionship of what he considered the right. 
Living as he did not far from the border 
line of freedom and slavery, the political is- 
sues of the old days were forever taking on 
moral aspects, and he did not hesitate to 
meet the issue. In later days, when the 
passions of the Civil War had burned to 
ashes, he made politics a matter of men and 
principles, and sought for the best men to 



250 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



fill the positions, for which character and 
ability shonld be the main qualifications. He 
was a good and faithful citizen, and will 
long be missed from the community where 
his life was mainly spent. 



JOSEPH P. POOLE. 



Joseph P. Poole, one of the older native 
born citizens of Lee county, where he was 
born in Harrison township, October i6, 
1840, enjoys the distinction of having 
served as a Union soldier throughout the 
Civil War, from the time of his enlistment in 
August, 1861, as a member of Company B, 
Third Iowa Cavalry, until his discharge 
in Georgia in 1865. He was mustered out 
at Jefifersonville, Indiana, and returned home 
war-worn and wearv, but glad that he had 
been able to render efifective service in be- 
half of the country he loved so well. As the 
years go by the value of that ser\'ice be- 
comes more apparent. As this country takes 
its place among the mightiest nations of 
the earth and exerts its influence for peace 
and order, justice and humanity, we shud- 
der at the picture of Avhat might have been, 
if the men of 1861 had not risen in their 
strength and asserted that the government 
of liberty should be preserved at all hazards. 
Mournful disasters of vast magnitude would 
have followed in the train of a divided Union 
and the progress of the world halted for 
hundreds of years. But thanks to the men 
of 1861 the world has written a history of 
advance, sometimes not compassed in cen- 



turies, 'since the day the rebel flag sunk in 
dust at Appomatox. The old veteran may 
be ragged and soiled, may be in the mire 
himself, but since it is a fact that he wore 
the Union blue, there is upon him a fade- 
less .glory of what he dared and did in the 
days of trial and testing, when he fought 
and bled for God and humanity. And the 
world loves and honors and reveres them, 
rich or poor, wise or ignorant, for the cause 
they upheld and the flag they followed. Mr. 
Poole, whose name belongs to this honored 
company, did his duty on the field of action, 
and lives to see the wonder of the victory 
he helped to win as its remote effects sweep 
out into the whirlpool of the nations and 
make the whole world better and freer. 

Jlr. Poole remained at home with his 
parents until he was almost twenty-one, and 
went from the farm to the battle ground. 
After the war he came back to the parental 
roof, where he lived until the winter of 
1866-67, when he was married. For about 
a year he lived on rented land near Big 
Mound, Lee county. After the expiration 
of this period he spent some years in the 
far West engaged in farming. The West 
did not please him as a home, and he finally 
came back to what he calls the "garden of 
the world," Lee county, and here he has 
maintained his home to the present time. 
For some years he was engaged in farming, 
and later he bought a home in the village 
of Primrose, in which he has made his resi- 
dence to the present time. 

In politics he is a Republican, and in 
local affairs seeks the best men for the posi- 
tions to be filled, but in general matters he 
"\otes as he shot." 

The marriage of Mr. Poole ocairred 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



in Primrose, Lee county, Iowa, in 1867, 
when Miss Rachel Holland became his wife. 
She was born in Ohio, and came into Iowa 
with her parents at an early date. They 
located in Lee county, and here her father, 
who was a tailor, followed his trade, but 
gave much attention to farming, having 
come into possession of a neat and attrac- 
tive farm in Harrison township. 

To Mr. and Mrs. Poole were born a 
family of eight children : R. May. at home ; 
Edward, wlio died at Pilot Grove. Lee 
county, wlien one year of age; ^Ivrtie T-. 
the wife of Edward Glendenning; Benton 
P., a resident of Mt. Pleasant; George O. is 
resident of Tennessee : Charles E., now in 
Muscatine, Iowa ; Claire, the wife of Albert 
J. Pool, a railroad man, of Ottumwa, Iowa ; 
Edna O., at home and still a student in 
the local schools. 

Mr. and Mrs. Poole have a pleasant and 
well-ap]iointed home, to which their friends 
are always welcome, and their genial hos- 
pitable spirit counts all who come their way 
as friends. They are good people and highly 
esteemed in the community in which their 
quiet and useful lives are passing. 



J. L. VANOSDOLL. 



J. L. X'^anosdoll. a leading merchant and 
one of the more pmniinent citizens of Mont- 
rose, Iowa, was born August 6, 1854. in 
Jefferson township, Lee county, the son of 
Richard and Emily Jane (Wilson) Vanos- 



doll, a full and complete sketch of whose 
lives and ancestry is given upon another 
page of the i)resent volume, together with 
a detailed mention of the various members 
of the family. It was in the public scIkwIs 
of Montrose that Mr. \^anosdoll received 
his early education, and lie also began early 
to learn the in\alual>le lessons of industry, 
working as a farmer and gardener initil 
about his fifteenth or sixteenth year, when 
he took employment in a sawmill at Mont- 
rose, ami (luring a jieriod of eleven years 
discharged successfully all the duties of 
the establishment except those of engineer. 
At the end of this time he spent three years 
in Keokuk with the firm of Taber & Com- 
pany, and later was with S. & J. C. At- 
lee, of Fort Madison, for two years, win- 
ning b_v careful work and faithful attention 
to duty the good will and confidence of his 
employers, and establishing for himself a 
reputation as a young man of unusual abil- 
ity, enterprise and energy, thus laying the 
foundation for his future career. 

On returning to Montrose Mr. Vanos- 
doll went into the meat business, which he 
followed for sixteen years, and the magni- 
tude of the success he achieved in that ven- 
ture is shown by the fact that at the expira- 
tion of this period he was able to abandon 
the enterprise whicli he had Iniilt up and 
enter upon a new business that has proved 
to be i)rofital)le in a still more gratifying 
mea.sure: for in 1903 he established a gro- 
cery and men's furnishing store, to which he 
has since added a bakery department, and 
the new store is already recognized as the 
leading institution of the kind in this section 
of Lee countv. Extensive and thoroughlv 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



modern stocks are carried, the appointments 
are of tlie latest and most approved style 
and quality, and the work of the various 
departments is systematized to an extent 
that commands unqualified admiration, 
while a rapidly and steady growing popu- 
larity attests the confidence of the general 
public. 

On February 8, 1886, Mr. \^'mosdoll was 
united in marriage with Miss Adele Le 
Matty, a native of La Harpe, Illinois, she 
being of French parentage and daughter of 
Joseph Le Matty, who as a partial invalid 
is retired from active life, and resides at 
Xauvoo, Illinois. To Mr. and Mrs. Van- 
osdoll have been born five children, these 
being Verda ; Kenneth ; Wanda, now de- 
ceased; and two which died in infancy. 

As a member of the Republican party 
and a man of great public spirit Mr. Vanos- 
doll has played a very important part in the 
civic life of Montrose, having at one time 
held the office of Mayor, in which his ad- 
ministration was notable in local annals, and 
for a period of eighteen or twenty years 
acted as Recorder, while he is at the pres- 
ent time the municipal Treasurer, and was 
also once elected Justice of the Peace, al- 
though he did not accept the office. In a 
fraternal way he is widely known, being a 
member and Past Noble Grand of Cascade 
Lodge, No. 66, Independent Order of Odd 
Fellows, having, in fact, held all the offices 
of the lodge and acted as treasurer for a 
period of more than eight years, while he is 
also secretary and treasurer of Montrose 
branch of Falls City Council, No. 166, Mu- 
tual Protective League, in both of which 
orders he lias been a constant and faithful 



worker. In addition, he is a member of the 
local organization of Daughters of Rebekah, 
in which Mrs. Vanosdoll also holds mem- 
bershi]), and she has frequently been elected 
to the office of secretary and is now Noble 
Grand. Mr. Vanosdoll is closely identified 
with the substantial interests of Montrose, 
owning the buildings in which his stores 
are located and a pleasant home that is the 
center of a refined social circle, and he en- 
joys the respect of the comrnunity in which 
his career is passing because of the strict in- 
tegrity which is observed in all his business 
and personal, relations. 



WINFIELD WEST NEWBERRY. 

W'iufield West Newberry is one of the 
younger representatives of a notable family 
in Lee county, and worthily sustains an 
honored name. While engaged in farming 
and always a hard worker, he is a well-in- 
formed citizen, and keeps abreast of the 
doings of the \vorld. Agriculture is to him 
not a narrowing but a broadening occupa- 
tion, and its opportunities for thought and 
reflection, its close contact with the order 
of nature, and its deep insight into the play 
of eternal forces, makes for a large and 
lasting culture. 

Mr. Newberry was born in Des Moines 
township, Lee county, Iowa, February 29, 
1856, a son of James W. and Edith (Bene- 
dict) Newberry, of whom a biographical 
sketch appears on another page of this work. 



LEE COUNTY, 10 IV A. 



^S3 



lie was given a coninion-sclincil etlucation, 
aiul became an intelligent and thonghtful 
man. He remained under the parental roof 
until the time of his marriage, and assisted 
his father in the management and work of 
tiie family homestead. After he married he 
established his home on an eighty-acre farm, 
to the south of the southeast quarter of sec- 
tion 8, and here he has lived and labored 
until now he is known as a successful culti- 
vator of the soil, and the owner of 147 acres 
of the choicest land. To this he has given 
close and constant attention with the excep- 
tion of about a year in 1883 and 1884, which 
he spent in Sutter county, California. 

Mr. Newberry was married February- 7, 
1877, to Miss Sarah E. Case, a native of 
Indiana, where she was born February 23, 
1855. Her jjarents, Thomas J. and Mary 
J. (McBride) Case, were among the pioneers 
of Lee county, making their arrival here as 
early as 1857. The}- were honorable and 
upright people, and stood very high among 
the early settlers. An interesting sketch of 
their career appears on another page of this 
work, and shows that their character, gen- 
eral intelligence and industr)% united with 
integrity and pul)lic spirit were mighty fac- 
tors in their pronounced success. 

To Mr. and Mrs. Xewberrv was horn 
one child, Ida May, the wife of Dr. Am- 
brose W. Teel, a noted physician, of Ka- 
hoka, Missouri. Their wedding occurred 
May 18, 1899, and has i)ro\e(l in every way 
a fortunate one. 

^^r. Xewberry is a Republican in his po- 
litical views, and has been a township tnis- 
tee for fifteen years altogether. For two 
years he served as justice of the peace. He 



is much interested in educational matters, 
and for man\- years has been school director. 
Mr. Newberry is awake to all public af- 
fairs, and anything that looks to the public 
good can always depend on him as an ac- 
tive supporter. He and his bright and 
charming wife have always drawn around 
llieni warm-hearted friends, ami they are 
greatly attached to their friends and neigh- 
bors in turn. 



JOHN S. FERGUSON. 



That the life of John S. Ferguson, of 
Keokuk, illustrates a high and noble ideal 
of American manhood is due in part to 
a rig-id discipline in the school of experi- 
ence and honest labor during his earlv vears, 
as well as to those personal characteristics 
which are peculiarly his own. Mr. Fergu- 
son was born on October 15, 1830, in Beaver 
county, Pennsylvania, and at the early age 
of sixteen years became assistant to his 
father, who was George Ferguson, working 
with him at his trade of blacksmithing. 
Cicorge Ferguson early removed to Indiana, 
taking up his residence at the town of St. 
Omar, and later, when the subject of this 
sketch was eighteen years of age, again fol- 
lowed the star of empire westward. This 
time he ])urchased a farm of 160 acres at 
West Liberty. Muscatine county, Iowa, and 
here he did his work and lived his life and 
passed to the life beyond. 

The voung man was his father's co-la- 



254 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



borer until three years after attaining his ma- 
jority, at which time he married Miss Jeru- 
sha H. Odell, daughter of Thomas Odell. 
a farmer and Christian minister of Odell's 
Ferr\', in the same vicinity. To them were 
born four sons and one daughter, as follows : 
George, who lives in the city of Keokuk and 
is the father of a family of three children : 
Elmer J., who has his residence at Gales- 
burg, Illinois; Thomas D., also of Gales- 
burg, and who for a full quarter of a cen- 
tur_\' has filled the position of conductor on 
the-Chicago, Burlington & Ouincy Railroad ; 
Clara, who with her six sons and daughters, 
lives with her father at his pleasant home 
in Keokuk ; and Charles Henrs*. who is em- 
ployed in Burlington, this state, where he 
and his wife have their residence. 

At the beginning of the great Civil War 
Mr. Ferguson was living quietly on his farm 
of i6o acres in Marshall county, Iowa, 
which he had entered as a "homestead" five 
years before; but at the first call of his 
country for defenders he relinquished the 
care of his own business afifairs, and offered 
himself as a recruiting officer to assist in. 
sending men to the front. He was accepted, 
and during several months which he devoted 
to this service his influence and standing in 
the community were instrumental in raising 
a large number of troops. Then, in August, 
1862, he himself joined the active forces, 
enlisting in Company F, of the Twenty- 
eighth Iowa Infantry. Three months after 
enlistment he was promoted to the office of 
first or orderly sergeant, which position he 
held until just before his discharge, when, 
in recognition of his distinguished and mer- 
itorious service, he was honored with a 



brevet colonelcy. With his company Pri- 
vate Ferguson went into camp at Iowa City, 
and later at Davenport, Iowa. Thence -he 
was sent to Helena, Arkansas, and there 
first saw active service in battle. He arrived 
at \'icksburg, Mississippi, at the beginning 
of the siege, and was engaged there until the 
surrender of the city to General Ulysses S. 
Grant. Proceeding immediately to New Or- 
leans. Louisiana, the regiment lost heavily 
in the battle of Lake Ponchartrain. Our 
subject was a member of the Red River 
expedition which, starting in March, 1864, 
fought its way over bitterly contested ground 
as far as Pleasant Hill, where a fierce en- 
gagement took place, as also one at Nat- 
chitoches. At Sabine Cross Roads he sus- 
tained the loss of his right arm. liesides thir- 
teen other wounds, and was, in consequence, 
taken prisoner by the enemy. He was held 
as a prisoner of war at Mansfield. Louisiani. 
utterly without medical assistance m- care 
of any kind, suffering from hunger, and 
had for a bed only the bare floor of his 
prison. From the hardships of this terri- 
ble time his health has never fully recovered. 
When captured he was a fine specimen of 
physical manhood, his weight being 200 
pounds ; when released he weighed but 
104 1-2 pounds. 

At the end of the war Mr. Ferguson was 
transferred to St. Louis, Missouri, and 
thence to Keokuk. Iowa, Immediately upon 
his honorable discharge from military duty. 
although still sufYering from the effects of 
wounds and pri\'ntions, he went to Farming- 
ton, Iowa, and entered the Methodist Epis- 
copal itineracy as a minister of the gospel. 
In this work he continued as long as his 



LEE COUNTY, 10 IV A. 



-00 



health would permit, which was a period of 
fourteen years. For three or four years 
thereafter he followed mercantile pursuits, 
keeping a store at Mount Pleasant, Iowa. 
Receiving the appointment as superintend- 
ent of x\shland National Cemetery at Jef- 
ferson City. Missouri, he held that posi- 
tion for six years, and was then transferred 
CO a similar post at Keokuk, where he has 
since inade his home. .\t present he is en- 
gaged in the real estate business, owning 
besides his own home considerable property 
m the city of Keokuk. In addition to nis 
ntliLT duties he acts as notary pulilic and 
pension attorne}'. 

Mr. Ferguson is the present chaplain of 
the National Association of Prisoners of 
War, president of Missouri Prisoners of 
^^"ar, and chaplain of the Grand Army of 
the Republic, Department of Iowa. He is 
a member and Past Commander of Belknap 
Post, Grand Army of the Republic, has 
passed through the chairs of the American 
Benevolent Association, being now its c\vA\y- 
lain ; has passed through the chairs of the 
local lodge of Independent Order of Odtl 
Fellows, and holds membership in the Dis- 
trict Camp and State Canton of the latter 
order. 

In politics Mr. Ferguson has been a Re- 
publican ever since the organization of that 
party, having cast his first vote for John C. 
Fremont for President. He has never 
cared for public office, but his popularity 
caused him to be elected sheriff of Musca- 
tine county, Iowa, at the age of twenty- 
five years, and later he was elected justice 
of the peace in IMarshall county. John S. 
Ferguson is an excellent example of a 



-self-made man. His formal education was 
merely that of the public schools, and his 
advantages have been few; but an ever pres- 
sent readiness to follow the call of duty has 
led him upward along high paths of honor, 
and his reward is the respect and profound 
regard of his fellowmen. 



NOBLE BLACKINTON. 



Noble Blackinton, in whose life record 
there is much that is worthy of emulation 
and whose memory is dear to the hearts of 
a large circle of friends who knew and hon- 
ored him during his active life, was one of 
the noble figures in the history and de- 
velopment of this section of Iowa, being 
known throughout Lee county and south- 
eastern Iowa as one who was singularly de- 
voted to all that might conduce to the moral 
and spiritual advancement of mankind, as 
well as being always among the first to aid 
any worthy movement for the material up- 
building of the community in which he made 
his home. He was born May 24, 1801, at 
Attleboro, Massachusetts, of old New Eng- 
land stock, one of a large family of brothers 
and sisters, and, fortunately, was reared to 
economy and toil, always two prominent 
conditions of health and longevity, as ordi- 
narily they are also of virtue and usefulness 
in life, and indeed, the family was charac- 
terized by sobriety, strict temperance and 
frugality, qualities which especially marked 
the career of our subject, and was remark- 



256 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



able for longevity, his father laying aside 
earthly existence wlien eiglity-four years of 
age, and one brother, who was a wealthy 
woolen manufacturer at the village of Black- 
inton, Massachusetts, attaining to the ripe 
age of eighty-eight years. 

Mr. Blackinton in early childhood re- 
moved with his parents to North Adams, 
Massachusetts, where he received his educa- 
tion, and there he acquired, in addition to 
a knowledge of farm work, considerable 
skill in the trades of brickmaking, tanning 
and coopering, while the necessity of mak- 
ing his own way in the world was at the 
same time developing in him the qualities of 
perseverance, self-reliance and soimd. dis- 
criminating business judgment. Later, .he 
began to look about him for some more 
remunerative field of endeavor, some place 
of more abundant opportunity and wider 
scope for iiis individual effort, and very na- 
turally making his choice in favor of the 
great West, he removed, when only twenty- 
four years of age, to Ashtabula, Ohio, and 
thence to Ouincy, Illinois, at whicli latter 
place he was united in marriage to his first 
wife, and with her again removed in 1840. 
taking up his permanent residence in Den- 
mark, Lee county, Iowa, where was passed 
the greater part of his long, useful and hon- 
orable life. Thus he became one of the very 
early pioneers of this great state, which 
was at that time only a territor}- and had 
a population of but about 30,000. Neither 
Illinois nor Iowa had then a mile of rail- 
road, most of the 55,000 square miles of 
what is now the state of Iowa was then a 
vast area of scarcely broken waste, Keokuk 
had not a half dozen cabins, Fort Madison 



liad only a single brick building, Burlington, 
though the territorial capital and the largest 
town in the territory, was but a small vil- 
lage, and Denmark had no church or acad- 
emy, but simply a plain school house, which 
was the only public building. 

]\Ir. Blackinton was twice married, and 
his first wife, who was a native of Boston, 
Massachusetts, died in Denmark in 1850, 
the mother of six children, of whom only 
two survived him, these being ^^'illiam N. 
Blackinton, of Denmark, and Mrs. Harriet 
Copp. of Nebraska. The latter died Decem- 
ber 5. 1887. In 1866 he wedded Mrs. Anna 
Gooch. of New York, with whom he had 
become acqtiainted during her residence in 
Denmark at a previous period, and she still 
survives him. His was a deep religious 
nature, and having become a member of 
the Baptist church when only eighteen years 
of age, he maintained the connection 
throughout life, being one of the seven orig- 
inal members of the first Baptist church or- 
ganized in Denmark, in the year 1848, and 
contributing liberally to the building of the 
first churcli edifice erected in the city, as 
he did also for the present home of the con- 
gregation to which he belonged. He also 
took a prominent part in sean-ing a parson- 
age for the church, always gave lavish finan- 
cial support to missionary work, and in 
1852 when the first steps were taken in Iowa 
for the establishment of an institution of 
learning of higher grade, to be under the 
control of the Baptists of the state, and the 
preparatory school was opened in Burling- 
ton, he was made one of the board of trustees 
in control of the school and its property, an 
ofiice to which he was re-elected from time 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



257 



to time for the remainder of liis life — a pe- 
riod of tliirty-four years. His contributions 
to the support of the institution were fre- 
quent and generous, and his place was sel- 
dom vacant at a regular or special meeting 
of the board, where his counsel, advice and 
encouragement were highly valued, both 
for their intrinsic merit and for the value 
which attached to his words as the utter- 
ances of a strong and cheerful nature. Thus 
he was faithful to even' duty while life last- 
ed. His death occurred at 10 p. m., on 
Thursday, September 15, 1887, and thus 
passed away a valued member of the com- 
munity, one the story of whose life was a 
priceless bequest to his descendants and 
whose influence still remains potent for 
good. 



WILLIAM N. BLACKINTON. 

One of the most popular and widely 
known men in commercial, financial and 
ptditical circles of Lee county, is William 
X. Blackinton. of Denmark, who conducts 
a hanking and general mercantile business 
and for the last five years has occupied the 
office of postmaster at that place. Mr. 
Blackinton was born .February 22, 1838, 
at Payson, Illinois, and is the son of Noble 
Blackinton, a sketch of whose career ap- 
pears on another page of this volume. Com- 
ing to Denmark with his parents in 1840, 
he received an excellent education in the 
Denmark Academy, and in 1856 removed to 
Hancock county, Illinois, where he assumed 



charge of his father's farm at the early age 
of eighteen years, thus giving promise of 
that independent and enterprising spirit 
which has characterized his later life. To 
this work he devoted ten years, with grati- 
fying success, and during that period he 
married Miss Roberts, of Plancock county, 
who died two years after her marriage, leav- 
ing one child, which died in infancy. 

His business career in Denmark dates 
from 1866, at which time he returned to 
this place and engaged in a mercantile en- 
terprise in company with George Epps, un- 
der tile firm name of Epps & Blackinton, 
they conducting a general store for two and 
a half years, at the expiration of which 
period Mr. Blackinton sold his interest in the 
business. In 1870 he again became engaged 
in the business in partnership with Dr. A. 
Holland, the firm being known as Blackin- 
ton & Holland, and this connection was 
continued until 1884, when Dr. Holland dis- 
posed of his interest to Peter Sheric, and 
after seven years during which the firm bore 
the style of Blackinton & Company, Mr. 
Blackinton purchased Mr. Sheric's holdings 
in 189 1. Since that date he has been the 
sole proprietor, and by his ability, tact, close 
attention to detail and well-known character 
of honesty, integrity and strict justice in 
all his dealings has succeeded in seairing 
a very large and profitable patronage. The 
stock is a general one and among the larg- 
est and most complete in the county of its 
kind, and here Mr. Blackinton also con- 
ducts a small banking business for the ben- 
efit of his patrons and friends, an institu- 
tion which has proved of great convenience 
to residents of the surrounding territory. 



258 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



Air. Blackinton's willingness to assist all 
worthy enterprises is evidenced by the fact 
that when the Lee County Savings Bank 
was organized he became one of the origi- 
nal stockholders and directors and is one of 
its largest depositors and that his counsel 
and advice have been strongly instrumental 
in raising the bank to its present high posi- 
tion among the leading financial institutions 
of southern Iowa, a credit to its founders 
and a monument to the ability, care and 
far-seeing sagacity of those who have made 
it what it is today. 

In 1867 Mr. Blankinton wedded Miss 
Anna Hughes, born in Bumbury, Cheshire, 
England, in 1841, and they have one son, 
Fred L. Blackinton. who received his pre- 
liminary education at Denmark Academy, 
and later was graduated from Grinnell, after 
which he was for six years connected with 
the First National Bank of Chicago. De- 
ciding, however, to adopt the profession of 
law, he entered Harvard University, and in 
two years completed the full course in the 
study of law — an achievement which must 
be considered truly remarkable. Mr. and 
Mrs. Blackinton occupy a commodious and 
luxuriously furnished home adjoining the 
store, all the appointments being of the 
most modern type and including an up-to- 
date system of plumbing, with hot and cold 
water and artistically exeaited open fire- 
places in many of the apartments. Mrs. 
Blackinton is a pleasant lady of genuine cul- 
ture, and in social circles has always been 
higlil\- esteemed. She is a member of the 
Congregational church. 

.Although never an aspirant for polit- 
ical honors, Mr. Blackinton early recognized 



the duty of even,- good citizen to interest 
himself in affairs of government, and be- 
came allied with the Republican party, in 
whose ]3rinciples he has always been a be- 
liever, and by the force of his example, his 
great influence in the community and by 
his counsel and faithful work in a private 
capacity has been of material assistance to 
his party in this section. In all walks of 
life he has been a positive force for good. 
Starting in a small way and working upward 
to greater things by his own strength of 
character, he has achieved a success which 
should be an inspiration to all younger men 
and to future generations. He is widely 
known throughout this portion of Iowa, en- 
joys the intimate friendship of many lead- 
ing people of this and surrounding coun- 
ties and is respected wherever known for 
his ability and the inflexible integrity not- 
al)le virtues of his character. 



REV. JOHN BURGESS. 

The world passed favorable judgment 
upon the life of Kev. John Burgess, for there 
were many elements in his character which 
commanded for him universal confidence 
and esteem. The place which he occupied in 
the regard of those with whom he came 
in contact was a tribute to that genuine 
worth and true nobleness of character which 
are every\vhere recognized and honored. 
He accepted life as one long course of spir- 
itual warfare, and to him was vouchsafed a 



LEE COUNTY. IOWA. 



^59 



great \ictury over the forces of evil because 
of liis conscientious use of great natural 
gifts and because of his infinite, unfaltering- 
trust in a Higher Power. 

John Burgess was born at Xew Market, 
Frederick countv, Maryland, May 2. tSji, 
the son of William Pitt and Lydia (Griffith ) 
Burgess. About the year 1826 the family 
removed to Mount \'ern(«i, Knox county, 
Ohio. There the father conducted a general 
store, and at that place his death occurred. 

After beginning his etlucation in Mount 
Vernon Rev. Burgess attended Kenyon Col- 
lege for a time, and later completed his 
formal schooling in Norwalk Seminary. He 
was naturally of a somewhat thoughtful 
turn of mind, ha\-ing a de\-(_nit natin-e, and 
at Xorwalk he was converted to the religious 
life. Being strongly impressed by the idea 
th.'.t his field of labor lay in the Christian 
ministry, he joined the North Ohio confer- 
ence of the Methodist Episcopal church, re- 
ceiving the rites of ordination at the hands 
of that body. In 1847 he married ^liss 
Sarah Elizabeth Gray, daughter of John and 
Mary (Ponder) Gray, who was born in 
Milton, Delaware, July 8, 1826. Mrs. Bur- 
gess removed with her parents from her na- 
tive state to Marion county, Ohio, about the 
year 1842. There her father followed his 
trade, which was that of blacksmitliing, and 
he also purchased land on the present site 
of Upper Sandusky, after that section was 
vacated l)y the Indians. Mr. and Mrs. Gray 
lioth removed to Keokuk in their latter 
years, and here was the scene ■ of their 
passing to the life beyond. 

The first pastoral charge held by Rev. 
Burgess after his marriage to Miss Gray, in 

16 



1847, was that of the Pulaski ' and Bean 
Creek mission, in W'illirnns coniUx'. The 
ne.\t year he was assigned to the W'aterville 
circuit, and following that, the Orange cir- 
cuit. He was then located at Lexington 
for a time, and at various other places in 
Ohio. Transferred to the lllini>is confer- 
ence, he held successively the charges of 
Grand View, Virden, Chatham and Chili. 
During his second year in Illinois he was ap- 
pointed agent for the Jacksonville b'emale 
Seminary to sell scholarships and collect for 
the college. He procured a second transfer, 
this time to the Iowa conference, and was 
first sent to Springville, near the Missouri 
line. The following year he was stationed 
at Bloomfield, and the third year at Fair- 
field Station, and the next year had charge 
of the circuit at Brighton. At the beginning 
of the Civil War he enlisted for the service 
of his countiw and his faith, as cha])- 
lain of the Thirtieth Iowa \'o]unteer 
Infantry. He went to the front with his 
regiment, and remained until his health 
failed, when he applied in person to Gen. 
L'lysses S. Grant for a furlough. The gen- 
eral, however, on seeing the low state of his 
physical condition, gave him an honorable 
discharge instead. Arriving at home in Feb- 
ruary of 1863, and attending conference, he 
was i)laced in charge of Brookville circuit. 
After a year at that place he came to Keokuk 
and for three years acted as pastor of the 
Exchange Street church, then the oldest 
church of the denomination in the city. He 
was then made presiding elder of Albia dis- 
trict, l)Ut preferring pastoral work, he re- 
signed after a time, and spent a year at 
Pella. Following that he was made pastor 



26o 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



of Montrose and was appointed chaplain 
of the State Penitentiarj'. 

Rev. Burgess's health was not of the 
best at that time, and for that reason and be- 
cause oppressed by the weight of years, he 
ass'.imed superannuated relations, and re- 
tireil from the regular service of the church. 
He continued to preach occasionally, how- 
ever, until the close of his long and useful 
life. He removed to Keokuk, purchasing 
property at the corner of Twelfth and Des 
Moines streets, where his widow still re- 
sides. In this city he pursued a course of 
study in the College of Physicians and Sur- 
geons, taking an honorary degree, but did 
not have in view the practice of medicine. 
He also organized and for some time was 
pastor of the Free For All, an independent 
chiuxh attended only by men, and by this 
means was able to present the truth to 
manv who. feeling themselves debarred by 
their style of dress, were not accustomed 
to attend divine worship. Services were 
held in the United States court rooms. He 
won the love of his congregation, and as a 
token of their esteem he was presented by 
them with a large and elegantly bound copy 
of the Holy Bible. 

Dtu-ing his later years Rev. Burgess at- 
tained recognition as an author and literary 
man of prominence. He was the author of 
two books, published by the IMethodist Book 
Concern, of Cincinnati. The first was a 
book of sermons, and enjoyed an extensive 
sale. His more recent and larger work was 
entitled. "Pleasant Recollections with Old 
Scenes and ]\lerry Times of Long, Long 
Ago." and is a i2mo. of 460 pages. This 
volume, embodying, as it did, the ripe reflec- 
tions of a lifetime of earnest thought and 



wide experience, was verj' well received, its 
sale being remarkably large. 

Two sons and two daughters of Rev. 
Burgess survive their father. They are; 
William Crawford, who married Miss Anna 
Haines, and has two children. Edith and 
Ethel; Anna, wife of John Cale; Mary L., 
wife of John W. Harmon, has three chil- 
dren, Charles. Myrtle and Ralph ; John 
Arthur, who married Miss Hattie Crowell, 
■ of Keokuk. 

Rev. Burgess was an active member of 
the i\Iasonic Order and of the Grand Army 
of the Republic. His lamented death oc- 
curred May 6, 1897. For more than fifty 
years he labored faithfully as a minister of 
the gospel, and his social, kindly nature en- 
deared him to hosts of friends. Though 
he has passed away, yet his memory is cher- 
ished by those with whom he came in con- 
tact. He left his impress for good upon all 
who knew his high Christian character. 
His career was one long benediction, and the 
laright example of his life shall be an inspi- 
ration to lead the coming generations to 
higher things. The world is better because 
he lived. 

Mrs. Burgess is a member of the First 
Methodist Episcopal church., and is an in- 
telligent and pleasant lady of unusual ability. 



NICHOLAS McKENZIE. 

Nicholas McKenzie.» who is serving as 
lockmaster of the lower lock at Keokuk, 
was born in Brooklyn, New York, October 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



261 



18, 1840, a son of William H. and Rosanna 
(Riley) McKenzie, botii of whom were 
natives of Ireland. The father was a stone- 
mason by trade. lie came to the United 
States in his boyhood days, but afterward 
returned to Ireland, where lie married, and 
then lirought his liride to the new world. 
settling in Brooklyn. Later removing" to 
the W'est, he established his liome in St. 
Louis, Missouri, and was there engaged in 
the construction of the first gas works of 
that city, following his trade of a stone and 
l^rickmason for some time; He afterward 
joined the Regular Army and was stationed 
at Jefferson Barracks prior to the Mexican 
War, in which he did effective service. 
A'hile he was at the front his family made 
their home at Jalapa, Mexico, and in the City 
of Me.xico. .\fter the war he went to New 
Orleans, and thence up the river to Keokuk, 
arriving in this city on the 3d of August, 
1848, but he died three years later, passing 
away on the 6th of .Vugust. He left three 
children to the care of the mother, who long 
surxived him and died on a farm, the home 
of her (laughter, Ann, in Lee county, on 
the 13th of August, 1897. 

Nicholas McKenzie was the eldest of 
three children, his sister and brother being 
.\nn and William McKenzie. He was but 
eight years of age at the time of his father's 
death. He attended school in Keokuk, being 
a student under General Torrence, of Civil 
War fame. At an early age he had to work 
and help su])port the family, being the main- 
stay of the household after his father's 
death. He was apprenticed to George Engel- 
hart to learn the blacksmith's trade, but did 



not complete his term. He worked in a 
blacksmith's shop as striker or helper, then 
entered the government service in 1857 on 
a chisel boat and dredge on the river, being 
thus employed for about five years. 

On the 27lh of May, 1861, :\Ir. Mc- 
Kenzie enlisted as a member of Company A, 
Second Iowa Infantry, under command of 
Capt. R. H. Huston and Colonel Curtis. 
The regiment was attached to the Sixteenth 
.\rmy Corps and he served for three years 
as a private, and afterward became corporal. 
He aided in the capture of Fort Donelson, 
Shiloh, siege of Corinth and several eng ige- 
mertts with the troops under General For- 
rest. He did much scouting and skirmish- 
ing, and was mustered out at Louisville with 
his regiment, receiving an honorable dis- 
charge at Nashville. He did his full duty 
as a soldier and \-alinntly defended the stars 
and stripes wherever duty called him. 

\Mien the war was over Mr. McKenzie 
caine to Keokuk, and three days later began 
as a brakeman on the Keokuk & Fort- Ma(;li- 
son Railroad, but after being employed in 
that \\ay for three days he gave up his posi- 
tion on account of Sunday work, as he 
wished to hold that day sacred from secular 
labor. He then secured a position in the Rock 
Island shops, and was employed at his trade 
for about si.x years altogether. He then 
turned his attention to the grocery business 
and was proprietor of a store for alxiut four 
years as a partner of his lirother, William. 
who is now in .'>t. Louis, Missouri. In 1876 
he was made turnkey at a police station, and 
the following year began working for the 
government as a lock hand on the middle 



262 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



lock. He cime to the lower lock in 1898, and 
was made lockmaster in 1904, which posi- 
tion he is now filling. 

In October. i8r)4. Mr. McKenzie was 
married in the old St. Peters church, by 
Father DeCailly, to Miss Grace McCaffrey, 
a native of [reland, who was brought to 
the United States in her early girlhood by 
her parents, Hugh and Bridget McCaffrey, 
also natives of the Emerald Isle. Her father 
was a stonemason and built many house 
foundations and buildings. He afterward 
remo\ed to a farm in Minnesota, about 
1S57, and he aiifl his wife spent their re- 
maining days there. They were members 
of the Catholic church. Mrs. McKenzie has 
three sisters, Mrs. Kate Swift, of Valley 
Junction. Iowa; Mrs. Ann McGinty, of Min- 
nesota, and Mrs. Eva Rouse, of Elizabeth, 
New Jersey. 

Unto Mr. and Mrs. McKenzie ha\'e 
been born eight children : Hugh, who is a 
butler on the government steamer "Lucia," 
and makes his home in Keokuk, married 
Kate Burk and they ha\e two children, 
Lewis and Margaret; Rose is the wife of 
Howard Conable, a clothier, of Keokuk, 
and they have one child, Madaline; Frank, 
who is superintendent of the shipping de- 
partment with a Kansas City millinery firm, 
married Ellen Downey, and thev have two 
chilflren, IMarie and Grace; John, a cigar- 
maker, married INIary Roe and resides in 
Keokuk; Nicholas, a 1>artender, of the city, 
wedded ^lary Trofter, and they have one 
child, Mary Louise. Will is employed in 
the office of the Iowa State Insurance Com- 
pany. Joseph is connected with the 
millinery firm, of Kansas City. The family 



home is at Xo. 206 North Seventh street, 
and in addition to this propert\' Mr. Mc- 
Kenzie owns a place on Palean street, which 
he rents. He belongs to St. Francis Cath- 
olic church, and holds membership relations 
with the Catholic Knights and with the 
Grand Army of the Re]iublic, maintaining- 
through the latter connection pleasant re- 
lations with his old army comrades, with 
whom he marched to the defense of the 
Union, following the stars and stripes upon 
hotlv contested battlefields. 



REV. MELVIN SCOTT ACKLES. 

The consecrated energy and persistency 
of high puri)ose exhibited in the activities 
of Rev. M. S. Ackles indicate for him. al- 
thoug'h he is as yet a young man. a probable 
career of success, usefidness and h(inor. 
Melvin Scott Ackles was liorn at .\rbela. 
Missouri, November 14, 1874. While the 
.■\ckles family came west from Pennsyl- 
vania, Mr. Ackles takes pride in the pos- 
session of a potent strain of Scotch charac- 
teristics inherited from his paternal grand- 
mother, who was born on a Mississippi river 
boat during the journey of her parents from 
Scotland. 

George Scott Ackles, the father, was 
born near St. Louis, and owned property 
that is now very valuable as constituting 
part of the city. He at one time was the 
proi)rietor of a large wood yard at that place, 
also a fine farm, being very well provided 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



263 



with worldly goods. In 1865 he disposed 
of his various properties in the vicinity of 
St. Louis, and remn\-ed to Hamihon, Illi- 
nois, where he had a horse-])ower sawmill 
and conducted a hotel near the levee, being 
very successful from a financial viewpoint. 
He afterward made some investments in 
which he lost a fortune. He is now retired 
from active participation in affairs, and has 
his residence at Warsaw, Illinois. The date 
of his birth is February 6. 18 17. The mother 
of our subject is 'Hannah Elizalieth ( Xorth- 
craft ) .\ckles, and hers is an old Missouri 
family, large slaveholders in ante-bellum 
days. .\ matter of interest is the fact that 
there recenth' died in Keokuk a former slave 
of the family. .\unt Rose Washington, at an 
age approximating a century. 

Mr. Ackles began his education in the 
public school of Warsaw known as "the 
seminary," and was later a ]irivate student 
of theology for six years under the guidance 
of Revs. H. J. Frothingham and C. M. Tay- 
lor, pastors of the Warsaw Presbyterian 
church. At the age of eighteen he relin- 
quished his studies, and took emiiloyment 
with the Roesler Stove Polish Company, 
and also spent two years with the Warsaw 
Pickle Company, supporting the family by 
his labor. During the four succeeding years 
he was engaged in retail grocery and cloth- 
ing business at Warsaw, and at the end of 
that period came to Keokuk as agent for 
the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company. 
In recognition (it abilitv he was ]iromoted. 
October 28. 1901. after a short Init emi- 
nently successful connection with the busi- 
ness, to the position of Assistant Superin- 
tendent, which he still occupies. In this ca- 



pacity he is charged with the local affairs 
of the company throughout an extensive dis- 
trict, and during his incumbency has verv 
materially increased the imjjcirtance of his 
office. 

In pursuance of a long-cherished ideal 
Mr. Ackles made an arrangement with the 
Sugar Creek congregation of the Christian 
church near Keokuk on Octoljer 17, 1900, 
to act as their pastor without compensation, 
as they were so few and he ]iroposed to 
build up the church as a missionar\- work. 
At that time no formal organization existed, 
but si.x months later Rev. Ackles organized 
the congregation, and for two and a -half 
years continued the work v\ithout compensa- 
tion, erecting, during this period, one of the 
most beautiful — perhaps the most beautiful 
— church edifice outside the cities and 
towns in the State of Iowa. Since the com- 
pletion of the new building one year ago 
he has received a nominal salary, but has 
continued his ministrations as he began them 
— for the love of the work. The society is 
now large and flourishing, the number of 
communicants, originally twenty. ha\-ing 
been trebled. 

October 3, 1899, Rev. Ackles was united 
in marriage with Miss Katie Herstcin, 
daughter of Christian and Barbara (Uhl) 
Herstcin. and gracing this union is one 
daughter. Mildred M.. born November 23, 
1901, and a son. Harold Scott, born May 
20. 1904. 

Rev. Ackles received his authorization 
as a minister of the gospel at the hands ot 
the First Christian Church of Keokuk, the 
date being September 9. 1901. and the work 
of his life, were he free to choose, would 



264 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



lie in the service of the church. He is a 
young man of sterling character and un- 
usual ability, and such a consummation 
would doubtless result in marked advantage 
to his denomination and the great cause for 
which it stands. 



JOSEPH E. FORDER. 



Joseph E. Forder. an honored veteran of 
the Civil War, now engaged in gardening, 
was born at Ribovelle, Alsace, France, De- 
cember 4, 1834, l)ut though born across the 
water there is no more loyal adherent of the 
stars and stripes among the native-born citi- 
zens of the United States. His parents 
were Joseph and Katherine (.Sirrette) 
Foi"der, also born in Alsace. The paternal 
graiid father, who also bore the name of 
Joseph Forder, was a shoe dealer and his 
son, Joseph, became a shoemaker and shoe- 
cutter in a government depot where clothing 
was made for soldiers. In the maternal 
lines our subject comes of a family that has 
furnishing many representatives to military 
life. His grandfather, Francis Sirrette, had 
four brothers, three of whom were in the 
Frencli army. The eldest was Francis Sir- 
rette. who held the rank of major, and was 
witli Napoleon in Moscow, and up to the 
battle of Waterloo, in which the great 
French commander met his first serious de- 
feat. He was a cuirassier, was six feet and 
five inches in height and was ninety-two 
years of age at the time of his death. For 



a time thereafter our subject and his mother 
were \vith the widow of Francis Sirrette. 
August Sirrette, another brother, was in the 
French army as a lieutenant, and died in the 
service, while Ma.ximilian was a captain. 

After loosing her first husband Mrs. 
Kererine (Sirrette) I'ortler was married, 
in 1837, to Joseph Brucker, a wine inspector 
for the government, and coming to America 
they settled in Burlington, Iowa, in 1857. 
By her second husband she had four chil- 
dren, and Ijy iier first marriage there were 
one son and one daughter : Kate, deceased 
wife of Blace Ringer, of Burlington, Iowa, 
and our subject: The children of the second 
husband were as follows : Alexander, of 
Grand Island, Nebraska; Louis, of Buffalo 
county, Nebraska; Joseph and Frank. 

Joseph Forder attended .the common 
schools and a military academy in France, 
intending to become a soldier, but he 
crossed the Atlantic at the time of his 
mother's emigration. He learned the butch- 
er's trade in his native country, and after 
reaching America began working on a farm 
in the vicinity of Burlington, Iowa, while 
later he was employed in the Barrett House, 
of that city, until he enlisted in the army. 
He was a member of the state militia for 
two years before the Civil War, belonging 
to the Ellsworth Zouaves, and in 1861 he 
enlisted in the First Iowa Infantry, with 
which he served for four months as bugler. 
He participated in the skirmish at Bunker 
Hill and others, and was mustered out Au- 
gust 10. 1 86 1, after the expiration of his 
term of enlistment, re-enlisting the same 
year in the Twenty-fifth Iowa Volunteer 
Infantrv, as bugler of the First Batallion. 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



265 



He was at Arkansas Post, afterward in the 
seige of Vicksburg, and in the engagements 
at Haines Blufif, Champion Hills and other 
movements of that campaign. The regi- 
men did much scouting and skirmishing and 
lost many men in action. After the seige 
of \'icksl.)urg they camped at Black river 
bridge and there Mr. Forder became ill 
with fever, and was discharged and sent 
home. He next joined the Ninth Cavalry 
as chief trumpeter and served in Arkansas 
anfl went with Sherman through the seige 
of Atlanta, and on the march to the sea ; 
also through the Carolina campaign, which 
terminated the war. He received an honor- 
able discharge in ]\Iarch, 1866, after more 
than four years of active field service. The 
military spirit of his ancestors was manifest 
in his capable discharge of duty, his unques- 
tioning loyalty and his fearlessness in the 
midst of grave danger. 

When the war was over Mr. Forder 
conducted a meat market in Burlington for 
many years, and also went on the Burling- 
ton, Cedar Rapids & Northern Railroad as 
pit foreman in the roundhouse, occupying 
that position for about three years. He also 
worked in a packing house at Burlington for 
about two years, and then renx)ving to Keo- 
kuk, conducetd a meat market for three 
years. Returning later to Burlington, he 
there engaged in gardening, and later came 
again to Keokuk and entered the service of 
the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Rail- 
road Company as foreman of the coach de- 
partment, cleaning and inspecting the 
coaches. In Hamilton, Illinois, he was en- 
gaged in the meat and ice business, and on 
the 5th of November, 1898, he came once 



more to Keokuk, where he is now engaged 
in gardening. 

In February, 1862, in Burlington, Mr. 
Forder was married to Miss Josephine 
Goodrich, who was born in that city in 
1836. a daughter of Philander and Eliza- 
beth (Ashmore) Goodrich. Five children 
have been born unto them : Philander and 
Flora, who died in childhood ; Elizabeth, 
who passed away in early girlhood; Harry, 
who married Celia W^eber and resides in 
Keokuk, and Frank, who married Myrtle 
Shaw and lives in Chicago. ]\Trs. Forder 
passed away in 1904. 

Mr. Forder is a Catholic in religious 
faith ; a Republican in politics, and frater- 
nally a member of Belknap Post, Grand 
Army of the Republic, and the Odd Fellows 
Lodge, at Hamilton, Illinois. His has been 
a busy life, and now he is living in com- 
parative retirement. He owns a house and 
lot on Ligdon street, in Keokuk. He still 
has in his possession his sword and bugle, 
and he nightly Ijlows the retreat, which is 
to many of his neighbors the signal that 
the ilay is ended and the hour for repose 
has come. 



DR. EDWARD C. FIEDLER. 

Dr. Edward C. Fiedler, who is engaged 
in the practice of electro therapeutics and 
massage, having for twenty-five years been 
connected with the profession, while for 
fourteen years he has been located in Keo- 
kuk, was bom in Germany in 1839 and 



266 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



when thirteen years of age was brought to 
the United States, the family home being es- 
tablished in Memphis. Tennessee. He there 
attended school and was afterward a student 
in the medical college at Memphis, in which 
he was graduated in the class of 1882. For 
five years he was in the hospital of the 
United States army of the Sixteenth Army 
Corps, being stationed at JeflFerson Barracks 
in St. Louis for two years and during the 
remainder of the time in Arkansas. He 
practiced medicine in .\rkansas during the 
succeeding three years and then locating in 
St. Louis he served for eight years as act- 
ing chief and captain on the police force. 
He joined the force through the virgent so- 
licitation of some of his army friends who 
wanted him to organize a mounted force. 
He was made captain fif the mounted force 
and was acting chief for a part of the time. 
On leaving St. Louis he went to Hot 
Springs, Arkansas, where he engaged in 
practice, giving massage and electric treat- 
ments. In 1S78 he went to Memphis. Ten- 
nessee, at the time of the yellow fever epi- 
demic in order to study the disease. He 
remained in the hospital there for two years 
and during that time was induced to enter 
college. In 1882 he left the hospital and re- 
turned to Hot Springs. .Arkansas, where 
he remained until 1890. when lie came to 
Keokuk and established an office at the so- 
licitation of some of his former patients in 
Hot Springs. He is now located at Xo. 
411 Blondeau street. He has an X-ray ma- 
chine and all modern electrical appliances. 
He has ne\cr believed much in the use of 
medicines, Init has lalxired for the allevia- 
tion of human suffering through surgical 
work and electro therapeutics. 



At the time of the Civil War Dr. Fied- 
ler was married and he has two children, a 
son and daughter, Mrs. E. J. Gable, whose 
husband is a physician at New Albin. Iowa; 
and Ciiarles. of Xew York. Dr. Fiedler 
gives his political allegiance to the Repub- 
lican party, but has neither time nor inclina- 
tion for office, prefering to give his undi- 
vided attention to his practice which is con- 
stantly growing in volume and importance. 



HORACE SAWYER. 



In days of strength and youthful vigor 
it would be a disgrace for a man to retire 
from active life and labor. He is full of the 
zeal and strength that his Maker has given 
him for great purposes, and it is his to meet 
all that fate or fortune has for him, with a 
composed face and an unshaking spirit. K 
is work, and duty, and responsibility, and 
"give and take" the blows of adversity, or 
the favors of fortune. It is different w'hen 
years have passed, and the hair is white and 
the back bowed to its burden. Rest is de- 
ser\ed after toil, and there is a fitness for a 
man to pause a little while before the Sun- 
set Gates are opened, and enjoy the fruits 
of well-spent years. In old age the retired 
life is fitting and natural, and gives grace 
and dignity to the years. All this may be 
saiti of the gentleman with whose name tliis 
sketch begins. 

Horace Sawyer, now a retired farmer, 
whose home is in the village of Denmark, 
a charming little hamlet of Denmark town- 



* 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 269 

sliij). was Iiorn in Xew Hampshire January llicir arrival in Lee county, and are remem- 
14, 1832. a son of Francis, Sr.. and Lydia Iiercd as among ilie must active mcml)ers of 
(Hil)bard ) Sawyer. The parents were prob- that church. In pohtics lie was first a Whig, 
ably natives of that state, and there they and later became a Republican. Well along 
were married. When they came to L>wa in years at the time he became a resident of 
they drove through from their far eastern Lee county, he was satisfied to make a ivonie 
home with a team, cox'ering what was tiien for himself and famil\-. and did not become 
an immense distance in a period of nine prominent, though he was known as an up- 
weeks. Here they settled in Washington right and honorable man and a good citizen 
township, near where the village of Sawyer in e\ery w ay. ( The remains of both him- 
subsequentl}- arose. When the land came .self and his excellent wife rest in the Den- 
into market Mr. Sawyer entered different mark cemetery.) He was much interested 
tracts in Washington, Denmark and \\'est in the cause of education, and gave liberally 
Point townships, until he had secured about to the su])i)ort of the Denmark Academy. 
440 acres in all. Here he made his home He died in i860, being at that time seventy- 
some eight years, and then removed to the eiglit years of age. His widow, who lived 
village, where he and his good wife spent to the same age, passed to her rest in 1867. 
the balance of their days. A brother of Francis Sawyer was killed in 

While ^Ir. Sawyer lived in Xew Hamp- the French and Indian \\'ar. The Sawyer 

shire he ran a grist mill and a starch factory, family comes of Engli.sh stock. 

in which he used potatoes as the material Horace Sawyer was but six vears of age 

for the starch. He was a poor man. how- when he was brought liy his parents into 

ever, on his arrival in the \\'est, and had to this county, so that practically it may be said 

borrow money with which to enter bis land, that his entire active life belongs to Lee 

As time ]jassed be became quite well-to-do, countv. Here be attended district school, 

if not rich. Largely he was the architect of and for several winters was a student at 

his own t'ortunes. and made himself what he Denmark .\cademy, living at home under 

was. the parental roof, and moving with his par- 

I'rancis Sawyer was the father of a fam- ents into the village of Denmark. When he 

ily of ten children, as the following names was twcnt\- vears of age he started out for 

show: Lovina, Lois, Lydia, Francis. Jr.. himself, his father giving him 120 acres in 

Timothy, Clarissa, Martha, Alfred and Kl- Washington townshi]) for the care of the 

dridge (twins), and Horace. The two old- parents during their lives, and on which 

est children died in the Fast: Lydia died he made his home initil the year iX(XJ. 

in Massachusetts; Clarissa died while visit- Th.at yc;ir he left the farm, and retired to 

ing in this county. The parents brought the village of Denmark, where he has since 

seven children with them. made his home. In the meantime he had 

.Mr. and Mrs. Sawyer associated them- brought the farm to a high state of ef- 

selves with the Congregational church after ficiency, and made it one of the model places 



?7o 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



of tlie township. In Denmark he occupies 
the same spot Avhere his parents hved, 
though having a new and modern house. 

Mr. Sawyer was married in 1863 to Miss 
Mary- A. Miller, a native of Dutchess county. 
New York, and a daughter of Henry Miller. 
Both her parents died when she was young, 
her father in Wisconsin, and her mother in 
Chicago. She was married in Jefferson 
county, Iowa, and though they have had no 
children they have reared several, and have 
always had them in the house. At one time 
Mr. Sawyer had added forty acres to his 
original farm, but he has sold it, and only 
retains ten acres in Denmark. He and his 
wife are members of the Congregational 
church, and in politics he is a Republican. 
At different times he has held local and 
minor offices, and is highly regarded by his 
neighors, who know him as a man of ex- 
cellent parts and spirit. The family, of 
which he is a leading representative, is an 
old and honored one, gives its name to the 
pleasant little village of Sawyer, one of the 
thriving centers of country trade that are so 
convenient to the neighboring population 
and so interesting to the tra\eling student 
of human life and conditions. 



LEWIS A. BERRYHILL 

Born at Rochester, Pennsylvania, No- 
vember 2, 1842, Lewis A. Berryhill came 
west with his parents and located in Keo- 
kuk in the spring of 1855, and since that 



time has been a continuous resident of this 
cit}', an interested witness of her develop- 
ment and a loyal supporter of all measm'es 
calculated to promote her welfare. He is 
the son of John and Man,- Anne ( Allward) 
Berryhill. His father was born in Al- 
legheny county, Pennsylvania, and died in 
Keokuk. Alarch 14, 18S7. Mrs. Berryhill, 
mother of our subject, was a native of 
Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, and 
her death also occurred in Keokuk. They 
were the parents of eight sons and daugh- 
ters, as follows: Anna E., wife of William 
Johnson, of Westmoreland county, Penn- 
syhania : Lewis A. ; Sarah, widow of Rob- 
ert Haines, resides in St. Louis ; John H., a 
plasterer, resides in Keokuk; James Mad- 
ison, also a plasterer, died in Keokuk in 
1888. and William R., of Kansas City, Mis- 
souri, is foreman of a large plumbing estab- 
lishment. 

Our subject received his education in 
the schools of Keokuk, and as a boy and 
young man learned his father's trade of 
caliinetmaking. continuing in that occupa- 
tion until August 29. 1861. when, imbued 
wkh a desire to serve his country in her 
struggle for survival, he enlisted in Com- 
pany C, of the Third Iowa Cava'lry, in 
which he was afterward commissioned as 
first duty sergeant in 1862. At the time 
of receiving his commission he was the duly 
private who was able to drill the company. 
He afterward joined the One Hundred 
and Thirty-eighth L'nited States In- 
fantry, in which he was commissioned a 
lieutenant. His commission bears the sig- 
nature of President Johnson, and was mus- 
tered out at Atlanta, Georgia, January i. 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



271 



1866, at the age of twenty-two, with the 
rank of captain, having been made captain 
of colored troops. 

On his enlistment he first went into 
camp at Camp Rankin, Keokuk, after two 
months proceeded to St. Louis. Remain- 
ing at that place for one month the regi- 
ment then made a forced march to join Gen- 
eral Curtis, at Pea Ridge. The first gen- 
eral campaign in which our subject was a 
participant was that executed by the Army 
of the Frontier, and this has become ;i mat- 
ter of histon-. The second, of lesser im- 
portance, was an expedition from Helena. 
Arkansas, to Vicksburg, where he remained 
until the surrender of that stronghold, 
known as the Gibraltar of America. The 
stay at this place, however, was not con- 
tinuous, as it was interrupted by a minor 
campaign against the Confederate General 
Johnson, during which the City of Jackson 
was captured, and from which the regiment 
returned on July •4th, the day Vicks- 
burg fell. Ordered to Memphis, Tennessee, 
to destroy rolling stock on the Mississippi 
Central Railroad, Confederate troops were 
encountered at Granada, where an engage- 
ment took place. It was at Memphis that 
Mr. Berryhill had the pleasure of traveling 
down the Mississippi river for a short dis- 
tance on the same boat with Gen. Ulysses S. 
Grant. 

Mr. Berryhill was with the .\rmy of 
the Frontier at Little Rock, Arkansas, when 
his original term of service expired, and 
was the first m;m of that arm_\' to re-enlist, 
leading a party of twenty-nine comrades to 
an officer's tent for that purpose at two 
o'clock on a bitter cold winter night. 
Through this action the entire regiment was 



led to re-enlist. Thirty days afterward he 
came home on furlough, but rejoined his 
regiment at Memphis in time to take part in 
a vigorous campaign in that region. Across 
the ri\er from the city two battles were 
fought, those of the Big Blue and Little 
Blue Creeks, in which the enemy was 
routed. Proceeding to St. Louis, fresh 
mounts were secured, and at Gravel Springs, 
Tennessee, organization was completed for 
Wilson's raid on Ander.sonville. The fol- 
lowing campaign including the battles of 
Ebenezer Church, whicli was a se\erelv con- 
tested action. Other battles in which Mr. 
Berryhill was engaged were Selma, Ala- 
bama, and Columbus, Georgia. The sever- 
est in which he was engaged was that of 
Pea Ridge, where the regiment lost heavily. 
On July 7, 1862, there was a severe battle 
at Cotton Plant, in which his regiment took 
part. Mr. Berryhill was wounded at the 
Ijattle of Guntown, in 1865. It was not un- 
til he reached Selma, however, that he suf- 
fered disabilities which deterred him from 
continuing in actice service. This occurred 
May 5, 1865. The I'nion infantry had 
made an assaidt upon the Confederate posi- 
tion, but suffered repulse, when Col. John 
\y. Noble, at the head of a cavalry detach- 
ment, led a charge and captured t}ie city 
after fifteen minutes of h.inl fighting. 
.\mong the captin-ed munitions was a large 
powder magazine, which he received orders 
to guard personally, and to fire it and re- 
treat in case Rebel reinforcements were 
sighted. While he was on guard, however, 
the magazine was fired from the rear, and 
in the explosion Mr. Berryhill sustained the 
loss of his sight, and suffered from total 
blimlncss for the ensuing four years. 



272 BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 

Prex'iiius to the battle of Selma Mr. wlio lias alreaily liegun his independent ca- 

Berr\'hill acted as a memlier of a searching reer, is pro\ing himself to be a young man 

partv in [Jiu'suit of Jefferson Da\is. the pres- of marked ability, and is rapidly forging to 

ident of the Confederacy, and the capture the front in his chosen calling. At present 

wa= made by members of his brigade. he holds a very responsible position with 

Captain Berryhill was one of the organ- the Chicago, Burlington & Ouincy Railroad 

izers of Torrence Post, Grand Armv of the Comjjany, being located at Center\ille. Iowa. 
Repufilic, aufl for five years was its com- Captain Berryhill possesses great natural 

mander, and also was the first commander aptitude for all activities of a military nu- 

of Belknap Post, serving two years. He is tnre. In 1876 he organized a drill regiment 

a man of much public spirit, and organized in Keokuk, which, after being under his 

the first lodges of the Sons of Veterans and care for the short space of six months, took 

the Women's Relief Corps, in Keokuk. For part in a contest held at Burlington, in 

a period of six years he was deputy marshal which regiments from all parts of the state 

of the City of Keokuk, and proved himself jjarticipated, and won the prize as the 

a strong and aggressive officer, but at the best-drilled re,ginient present. It is prob- 

sanie time acted with fairness and impartial- ,able that heredit\' pla_\'ed some part in en- 

ity to all. For four years he was engaged dowing him with this talent. His grand- 

in the mail ser\ice, but resigned the position, father, Thornton Allward, was aide-de-camp 

Although an active worker in the ranks of to General Washington, losing his life by a 

the Republican party and the org.anizer and wound receix'ed from a poisoned arrow in 

captain of all the Repul)lican marching clubs an Indian fight. His father, John Berry- 

of Keokuk for the last thirty years, he has hill, was a soldier in the Mexican War, as 

never sought office. He was, however, with- was also his father's l^rother. William, who 

out his own solicitation, at one time nomi- jierformed distinguished service. One 

n;ile(l for an im]iortant public office b_\- the lirotiier, John, enlisted for the Ci\al War at 

largest majority ever received b\" anv can- the age of fourteen, and suffered imprison- 

didate in the City of Keokuk. I'raternally ment in Anderson\-ille. 

he is a member of the Knights of Pvthias. Mr. Berryhill was for three years fore- 
and ca])t;iin of the Uniform Rank. man of construction work on the govern- 
On May 7, 1S80, Mr. Berryhill was ment canal at this place. He has been con- 
united in marriage to Miss Mary L. Nout- nected with various public enterprises, and 
ncy. daughter of Albert Noutney, and to has a great many friends and a large circle 
them ha\'e been liorn five children, two of of acquaintances, who respect him for his 
whom died in inf.ancy. Those lix'ing are: integrity, courage and talents. In the re- 
John T,, b'red, and (ieorge McKinley. Mr. gretable troubles antl disturbances which 
Berryhill has been able to supply his sons took ]jlace se\'eral years ago and resulted in 
with better educational advantages than he the organization of the American Protective 
himself received, and the eldest son, John. Association at this jilace. Captain Berryhill 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



2/3 



was It. reed to tal<f a iMuniinem \y.\v\ in op- 
position of nianv of his friends and neigli- 
liors. the excitement of the times rendering 
his efforts to i)re\ent (hsorder utiavaihng. 
Rut tlie former liitterness has passed away 
ill tlie hght of a more jierfect understanthng 
between those concerned, and today no one 
enjoys to a greater degree the good will 
and higli regard of all \\"ho know him. 



THOMAS VALENTINE WILSON. 



Thomas Valentine Wilson, whose name 
is familiar to the old residents of Lee county 
as native to the soil and reared in the com- 
munity in which he was born, has seen the 
county transformed from a sunny and flow- 
ery prairie to the settled home of a great 
]3opulation, a result which his industrial 
habits and manly vigor have helped advance. 
In the history of a nation a period of fifty 
years has n(j great imi)ortance; time is an 
element of national greatness. In the 
making of the West, however, time has 
not been so important. In 1849 Iowa was 
but a fringe of settlement with promise as 
to the future; in 1904 it is an imjierial state, 
with a splendid development not elsewhere 
accomplished in hundreds of years. Then 
Lee county was mostly uncultivated prairie 
with little towns and hamlets that hardly 
hinted future prosperity; now it is a riclr 
an<l fertile part of a magnificent common- 
wealth. And all this easily within the life 
of the man whose name appears at the open- 



ing of this article. He has seen it, and has 
been a part of it. 

Thomas Valentine Wilson was l)orn on 
the farm where he has his home at the pres- 
ent time, Febmary 15, 1849, and received 
his education in the district schools of Jef- 
fers<_in townshiii. Lee county. lie was reared 
a farmer, and to the cultivation of the soil 
he has devoted his life. The farm on which 
he is now living was secured by government 
entry made by his father and grandfather 
in 1833. Here they settled in March of the 
following year, and here the famil\- has 
since resided. .\t the present time it com- 
prises 123 acres of beautiful land, and its 
appointments are superior throughout. The 
farm house is of brick, and it is a fine and 
commodious structure in which Mr. Wilson 
is living. His father died .\\}r\\ 4, 1870; 
and his mother, August 15, 1899. In poli- 
tics Mr. Wilson is a Democrat, and in re- 
ligion, a member of the Methodist Episcopal 
church. 

Mr. Wilson was married to Miss Henri- 
etta Schlagenbusch November 23, 1871. She 
was a daughter of John and Henrietta (Ep- 
pers) Schlagenbusch, and as a wife and 
mother is beyond criticism. To her union 
with Mr. Wilson have come eight children : 
William Alva, born October 3, 1872. mar- 
ried Miss Mary Buhner; \'a!ley Lovinia, 
born May 30, 1876, she is now Mrs. Eugene 
Smith ; Ethel Ottie, born February 15. 1878. 
She is Mrs. Granville L. Arnold, and the 
mother of two children, L'\a Orvia and 
Orville Valentine; Geneva Salome, born .Au- 
gust II, 1880, and Thomas Valentine, born 
March 10, 1883. Ollie Ann, born March 3, 
1885, is the wife of Louis Weisbruch. Her- 



2/4 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



bert Elmer, born September 9, 1886; the 
next died an infant; Hazel Edna, born Au- 
gust 22, 1892, and Delbert Bi-yan, born July 
22, 1896, are the two younger children. 

Mrs. Wilson's father came to Lee county 
from Germany in 1852, but she was born in 
Braunsweig, Germany, February 3, 1853. 
The father settled in Jefferson township, 
where he died when Mrs. Wilson was thir- 
teen years of age. Her mother entered into 
rest July 22, 1879. They were the parents 
of two children, one of whom is Mrs. Wil- 
son, and the other a son, John, who was 
born February 23, 1858. 

Mr. and Mrs. Wilson are quiet and un- 
pretentious people, little given to display, but 
of genuine worth and character, to which 
their many friends bear ready testimony. 
They pay their debts, help the poor, speak 
the truth, and are always kind and generous. 
We write them among the solid and sub- 
stantial citizens of the town, and commend 
their history as worthy of study. 



ALBERT EDWARD FOULKES. 

Albert Edward Foulkes, deceased, was 
accounted one of the most prominent and 
enterprising business men of Keokuk and 
was classed with the representative citizens 
who while promoting individual success also 
contributed in large and substantial meas- 
ure to the public welfare. Because of his 
activity in commercial and industrial circles. 



because of his close adherence to business 
ethics and his sterling traits of manhood, he 
enjoyed the uniform confidence and trust of 
all, and his death, therefore, came as a pub- 
lic calamity in the city in which he had long 
made his home. Mr. Foulkes was born in 
Manchester, England, October 3, 1847. His 
parents died in that country, but the mother 
at one time was a resident of America, re- 
turning, however, to her native land, ere 
her demise. Sarah Foulkes, a sister of our 
subject, is now living in England and a 
brother, Joseph E. Foulkes, is a resident of 
Crawfordsville, Indiana. 

Albert Edward Foulkes spent the first 
eighteen years of his life in the land of his 
nativity and then hoping to benefit his finan- 
cial condition through the business oppor- 
tunities of the new world he crossed the 
Atlantic and established his home in Keo- 
kuk, living with an uncle who Iiad previous- 
ly settled in this city. Here he learned 
the painter's trade and during the greater 
part of his life was connected with that de- 
partment of industrial activity. He like- 
wise learned the business of paperhanging 
and decorating and after being employed as 
a journeyman for some time he established 
a business of his own and in addition to con- 
tract work dealt in paints, oils, painter's sup- 
plies, wall paper and art goods. Gradually 
he developed a business of large and profit- 
able proportions and at the time of his de- 
mise was senior member of the firm of A. E. 
Foulkes & Sons. He embarked in this busi- 
ness soon after his marriage, continuing 
therein for twenty-nine years and his serv- 
ices were called into requisition in many 



LEE COUNTY. IOWA. 



^7S 



of the finest homes of the city. Selling his 
interests here, he spent the years from 1S90 
nntil 1893 in Ogden, Utah, after which he 
retnrned to Keokuk and again became a 
factor in the business life of Lee county. He 
based his business principles and actions 
upon strict adherence to the rules which 
govern industry, economy and strict, un- 
swerving integrity, earning for himself an 
en\i.n!)le reputation as a careful man of busi- 
ness kniiwn in his dealings for his prompt 
and honorable methods, which won for him 
the deserA'ed and unbounded confidence of 
his fellowmen. 

In 1869 Mr. Foulkes was united in mar- 
riage to Miss Mary E. Frank, a native of 
Ohio and a daughter of John and Marg-aret 
Frank. Her father was a farmer of the 
Buckeye state, and after his removal to Lee 
county, Iowa, became a passenger conductor 
on the Chicago, Burlington & Ouincy Rail- 
road, occupying that position for a mimber 
of years or until his leg was crushed in a 
wreck. He then resumed agricultural pur- 
suits and died upon his farm in Lee county. 
Mrs. Foulkes has one brother, Willard 
Frank, a resident of Peoria, Illinois. Unto 
Mr. and Mrs. Foulkes have been born seven 
children, who are yet living, John W. mar- 
ried Rosa Geiger and has one child, Mil- 
dred, who is with them in Keokuk. Albert 
E., who was born in Keokuk, Iowa, in 1872, 
was at one time in the employ of the South- 
ern Pacific Railway as a fireman, Init was 
transferred to the train service and while 
thus engaged he was killed at Promontory. 
Utah, while in the act of coupling cars, April 
16, 190 1. About four years before he had 
married Mrs. Chisholm, a former resident 



of Keokuk, and they were living in Ogden, 
Utah. Albert E. Foulkes was at that time 
but twenty-nine years of age. Joseph K. 
I'oulkes. the third member of the family, en- 
listed as a volunteer in the Spanish-Ameri- 
can War, becoming a private of the Fiftieth 
Iowa Regiment, and was encamped at Jack- 
sonville, Florida. He married Nora Greg- 
ory and with his brother, John W., contin- 
ued the business which was established by 
their father, .\rthnr L. is married and liv- 
ing in Ogden, Utah. Sarah, Edward S. and 
Mary A. are all at home, living with their 
mother at No. 620 South Seventeenth street 
in Keokuk. 

Mr. Foulkes was always a stalwart Re- 
l)ublican in politics, and while he never 
sought or desired office had firm faith in 
the principles of the party. He held mem- 
bership in the Methodist church and be- 
longed to the Independent Order of Odd 
Fellows, and the Modern Woodmen of 
America. He delighted in scientific re- 
search and was especially fond of the study 
of ornithology. Among his home treasures 
is a beautiful cabinet containi-ng fifty-two 
varieties of native birds, stuffed and mounted 
and also some of the smaller animals. His 
work in taxidermy was of a superior order, 
the birds and animals being mounted tnie 
to nature. He was likewise a collector of 
geological specimens and his early finds in 
and around Keokuk and Hamilton now con- 
stitute a valuable collection. Mr. Foulkes 
died very suddenly in his home at Keokuk 
on Sunday, May 27, 1900, after an illness 
of only a few hours and his death was the 
occasion of deep and widespread regret 
through the city in which he had long re- 



276 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



sided. He was an upright, honorable busi- 
ness man in every respect and won the es- 
teem of all and the love of many. In his 
family he was kind and devoted husband and 
father, his best characteristics being reserved 
for those of his own household. 



CHARLES COLE ROBBINS. 

Celebrated for his kindly nature, his 
good deeds and his loyal devotion to his 
family, his friends and his country was one, 
the subject of this sketch, who has but lately 
gone to his reward in the life beyond. In 
the reality of that future life he ever pro- 
fessed a firm faith, and for it he prepared . 
throughout the days of his earthly existence. 
]\Ir. Robbins was born November 26, 1830. 
at Union, Broome county, Xew York. His 
father was Alan Robbins, who was by trade 
a stonemason. On the 29th day of Feb- 
ruan', 1852, he was united in bonds of holy 
matrimony, with Miss Li)uisa Johnson, a 
daughter of Isaac and Marsha (Short) John- 
son. The place of her birth was at Coopers- 
town, Otsego county. New York, the date 
being January 12, 1831. 

In 1857, after spending the first five 
j'cars of their wedded life in the Emjiire 
state they journeyed westward, seeking new 
and larger fields of labor, and located at 
Fountain Green, Illinois, and here Mr. Rob- 
bins successfully followed his trade, that of 
wagonmaking. which he had acquired in 
NeXv York. He was considered bv all who 



had occasion to bespeak his services to be 
a workman of the highest grade of excel- 
lence, and it seemed to the young couple 
that a happy and prosperous career was 
opening out before them. Before the hus- 
band was fairly established in business, how- 
ever, came the call of the nation for de- 
fenders, and in September. 1862, he enlisted 
in company A, of the One Hundred and 
Eighteenth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and 
went to the front as a soldier, serving until 
the end of the war. He bore a part in the 
battle of Arkansas Post and in the siege of 
A^icksburg, but was overtaken by sickness 
early in the war. and was thereafter imable 
to perform active duty for a great part of 
the time. He participated, however, in the 
battle of Port Hudson, did much police 
duty, and at New Orleans was detailed to 
act as a clerk. His service was long and 
faithful and of value to his countr}-, but 
he was a modest man, and upon the occasion 
of his being offered a commission he re- 
fused, preferring to remain a private sol- 
dier. Near the end of the war he visited 
his home on furlough, which had been 
granted him because of his illness. At the 
expiration of his furlough he reported for 
duty at Springfield, Illinois, but was advised 
to return home, as the close of the conflict 
was near. He complied, and did not re- 
turn to the field. 

Mr. Rdhhins's militars- service was long, 
faithful and honorable, and from the ill 
health resulting from its hardships he suf- 
fered for the remainder of his life. Indeed, 
it may be said to have changed the entire 
course of his life, as it was the direct cause 
of his being compelled to abandon his favor- 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



'-77 



ite ambitions, and thwarted his ardent desire 
to secure an education which should fit him 
for a place in the business world. He was 
at one time in a Chicago institution of learn- 
ing, intending to pursue a commercial course 
but found his strength unequal to the task. 
Thereafter he supported himself and family 
by manual labor, and although eminently en- 
titled to the aid of a soldier's pension, did 
not make application until several years af- 
ter the termination of the war. His trade 
was resumed, and with a fair amount of 
success. 

Unto Mr. and Mrs. Robbins have been 
born two daughters : Ellen L., who was born 
at Union, New York, is the wife of Lenton 
M. Strader, and the}' live on a farm near 
Orsburg, Nodaway county. ^Missouri. They 
are the parents of eleven children, five of 
whom are married, and there are four great- 
grandchildren. The second daughter. Inez 
M., was born at Fountain Green. Illinois, 
and is the wife of Zachary T. Bickford, who 
is a farmer. They have one child. "Sir. 
Robbins was of the Methodist faith, and 
Mrs. Robbins and the elder daughter are 
members of the Baptist denomination. He 
was always faithful in the discharge of his 
political duties, in which he took a lively in- 
terest, having been a member and active 
worker of the Republican part}- since its in- 
ception. He was a member of Torrence 
Post of the Grand .Army of the Republic, 
and during the year prior to his death was 
commander of his post. 

As indicated, Mr. Robbins never recov- 
ered from the effects of hardships endured 
on the battlefields and in the camps of the 
South, and these were the sources of his last 

17 



illness. After two years of continuous suf- 
fering he departed this life November 12, 
1902, and is buried at Plymouth, Hancock 
county, Illinois. The funeral was conducted 
under the auspices of the Grand Army of 
the Republic. An ideal husband, a loving 
father and a faithful friend, his memory is 
held in honor and respect by all who knew 
him. Of him it may be truly said that none 
knew him but to love him, none named him 
but to praise. 



BENTON POOLE. 

In the vocation wliich this gentleman 
lias chosen Tire to Ije found many of the 
most pleasant features and delightful ex- 
periences of life. It has its trials and 
troubles, but the farmer is independent. His 
work is in the free air, and health and com- 
fort are at his command. He is his own em- 
ployer, oxcrseer and paymaster, and whether 
he dri\es his team aTield or feeds his cattle 
in the meadows, he is the true aristocrat and 
uncrowned king in these American days. 
Mr. Poole has made no mistake in devoting 
his life to agriculture ;nid the substantial re- 
sults that have attended his fifty-five years 
show that his ."skillful management and un- 
wearied iiulustr\-. together with his mani- 

* . <n 

fest integrity and kindly spirit were bound 
to win in the end. 

Benton Poole, now one of the trustees of 
Harrison township, Lee county, and resid- 
ing on his 140-acre farm, a half mile south 



278 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



of Primrose, was horn in tliis township, Sep- 
tember 28, 1849. His early education was 
secured in the district school, which was 
near at hand, and when quite young was 
able to render his father active assistance 
in the management. 

Micajah Poole, the father of Benton, 
was born in \^irginia in 1800, and when he 
was thirly-six years old made his home in 
Iowa. He left his native state at the AgQ 
of ten years, to make his home in Indiana, 
and there he learned the blacksmith's trade, 
which he followed for many years. How- 
ever, on coming to Lee county, he turned 
his attention to agriculture, and securing a 
halt section of land in Harrison township, 
and \'an Buren county, a quarter section in 
either county, was henceforth a farmer. 
This property was quickly and largely im- 
proved by him, and he at once put up a 
comfortable log house as a home for himself 
and family. In 1856, on receiving a good 
offer for his land, he accepted it and spent 
the following winter in Farmington. The 
next spring he bought a farm of eighty 
acres in \'an Buren count\', where he lived 
until 1869. That year he returned to Farm- 
ington, which henceforth was his home until 
his death in 1873. During his active life 
in this state he was a general farmer, 
though gi\ing much attention to stockrais- 
ing. ever pro\-ing himself an industrious 
man and a good citizen. In political mat- 
ters he arrayed himself with the RepubHcan 
jjartv, and in religious affairs was associated 
w ith the Methodist church. 

Rebecca (Rowlson) Poole, the mother 
of Benton, lived until 1884. dying at the 
farm in Harrison township at the age of 



seventy-six years. Born in Ohio, she par- 
ticipated in the trials and privations of the 
early days, and was ever of a cheerful spirit 
and a kindly disposition. 

Of the ten children born to ^licajah and 
Rebecca Poole the following may be noted : 
John R., deceased: W'yatt A., a resident of 
California; ^^lilburn Z., deceased; William 
S., a resident of Muscatine, Iowa, and ;i 
farmer; .Martin M., a resident of Washing- 
ton; Joseph P.. of whom a sketch appears 
elsewhere in this volume; Susan Mary died 
in infancy; Ewalt died in 1863, while serv- 
ing as a Union solider in the Thirty-fifth 
Iowa Volunteer Infantry; Adaline. wife of 
Thomas Walker, a farmer in Oklahoma; 
Benton, whose career is the theme of this 
article. 

Benton Poole remained at home until' 
1868, when he left home and for some years 
was engaged in the neighborhood as a farm 
laborer, being employed l)y the uKjnth. He 
was quite successful in his various enter- 
prises, and when his father died he was able 
to enter into contracts with the other heirs, 
by which he seciuxd their interests in the 
fann'ly homestead, becoming himself its sole 
owner. He continued farming until the 
death of his inother, but when she died he 
.sold the Van Buren county tract, and pur- 
chased his present home in Harrison town- 
ship, a fine and well-improved place, com- 
prising 140 acres, well-improved and fur- 
nished with a handsome brick residence. 

Mr. Poole is a Republican, and has 
served as trustee of the township two terms, 
and is now an encumbent of that position. 
He is an enterprising business man, and a 
public-spirited citizen, of whom many kind 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



279 



tilings are said in the community where he 
lives and labors. 

Mr. Poole was married in 1876, near 
Farmington. Towa, to Miss Carrie Town- 
send. She died about a year after marriage, 
leaving one child, who died an infant. Mr. 
Poole married for his second wife Miss 
Marv Stinson, by whom he had two chil- 
dren, neither of whom survived the perils of 
infancy. Mrs. Poole died in the fall of 
1884, and Mr. Poole was a third time mar- 
ried, when iNliss Mina Eyler became his 
wife. She was a native of Ohio, and to her 
union with the subject of this writing were 
born five children : Nellie A., Rollie, Ever- 
ett, died wlien only six weeks old ; Maree, 
and Clell. These children were all born in 
Harrison township, Lee county, and are 
growing into a very bright and charming 
family. 

Mr. and Mrs. Poole have led a quiet and 
uneventful life, attending to their own af- 
fairs, but taking a kindly interest in all 
neighborhood relations. They have many 
friends, and are numbered among the solid 
and substantial people of Lee county. 



ELIAS OVERTON. 

Elias Overton, who is now numbered 
among the great and silent majority, was 
in his lifetime .a man of marked character 
and more than ordinarv abilitv. He be- 



longed to an old Xorth Carolina family, 
and was a prominent and influential man in 
the old ])ioneer days. Those were the days 
that tried men's souls, and in every privation 
and danger he proved himself a man, en- 
during the inevitable patiently and meeting 
the dangers of the fnMitier bravely. 

Mr. Overton was liorn in Hartford 
county, North Carolina, January 12, 1807. 
and was^a son of Asa Overton, who was 
bom in the same county in 1771, and Kitty 
Thomas, who was also a native of Hartford 
county, where she was born in 1775. They 
removed to Randolph county. North Caro- 
lina, in 181 1, and in the sj^ring of 1837 made 
their home in Lee county Iowa. Here they 
both died in 183S. the wife passing first to 
the world beyond, and the husband fol- 
lowed on the twenty-ninth day of J\Iay. 
They left a family of seven children, all of 
whom are now laid at rest in the silent 
churchyard. 

Elias Overton accompanied his parents 
in their western excursion, and as they were 
lioor people he had but little opportunity for 
schooling. What little opportunity came 
his \va^■ was eagerlv improved, and in his 
mature days he was regarded as a well-in- 
formed man. In early manhood he worked 
as a farm laborer, and when he was twenty- 
six years of age luarried Xancy York, a na- 
ti\e of Randolph county. North Carolina, 
where she was born in 181 1. Within 
thirty days after their marriage they re- 
moved to St. Clair county, Illinois, where he 
])nrchascd forty acres, and began farming 
on his own account. In 1830 they changed 



28o 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



their location, becoming residents of Lee 
county, Iowa, securing a farm in ^Marion 
township, on section 36, where he built 
a rail cabin for a home until he could 
erect a more substantial structure. Mrs. 
Overton did not long survive her settle- 
ment in Iowa, dying in the month of Sep- 
tember, 1840, and lea\-ing" three children, of 
whom brief mention may be made : Alfred, 
born July 5, 1834, died March 11, 1863, as 
a soldier the Union army, of typhoid fever, 
at Columbus. Kentucky, where he was 
buried. He had enlisted as a member of the 
Fortieth Iowa V'olunteer Infantry, and is 
remembered as a brave and loyal soldier; 
Eliza, born September, 1836, married Jesse 
Derr, and lives in California; Lurinda, born 
February 17, 1840, married ^lartin Derr, 
and lives in California; William died 
young. Mr. Overton contracted a second 
marriage in September, 1841, when Miss 
Eliza Bunner became his wife. She was 
born in Virginia. Alarch 15. 1817, and is 
still living at Mount Hamill, in Lee county. 
To this union were born six children : Mary 
E., hovn in October, 1842. married C. C. Mc- 
Cord ; she died in 1894; Arey L., born in 
May, 1844, is the wife of David Powell, of 
Cedar township; John T., born !vlarch 31, 
1848, is now living on the old homestead 
farm in Marion township; Henn' died ii) 
infancy; Marion T., born August 10, 1850, 
is a resident of Marion township, and is the 
subject of a biographical sketch that appears 
in another page of this volume; Sarah A., 
born Septemlier 27, 1852, is the wife of 
John I'owell, and resides in the southwest 
part of Missouri. 

Mr. Overton removed his liome to sec- 



tion 2y, ]\Iarion township, in 1854, and there 
he spent the remainder of his days, dying 
March 29, 1893. Fie was a very successful 
man in all his l)usiness deals and operations, 
seldom making a misdeal, and then soon re- 
gaining the lost opportunity. At one time 
he owned over 1,200 acres of land, nearly 
all being exceedingly choice for farming 
purposes, and attracting much attention as 
being uniformly of such high grade. In 
local affairs he was a man of more than 
ordinary standing, and was county super- 
\isor and township trustee, and filled dif- 
ferent school positions at various times. 
Both he and his excellent wife were mem- 
bers of the Methodist Episcopal church, in 
which they were highly regarded as people 
whose li\es kept close to their professions, 
making religion sincere and practical in 
eveiy case. Of him it may be said he was a 
good citizen, a kind friend and a helpfu} 
neighbor. 



MARION T. OVERTON. 

The man who makes conditions spell suc- 
cess for him in the toilsome career of agri- 
culture well deserves recognition in any 
work devoted to the worthy and honorable 
ciiaracters of a community in which he has 
passed latorious years. The man who digs 
a competence from the earth and compels 
the sun and the rain to do his liidding. com- 
mits no wrong, but confers a favor upon 
the world. If he is a public benefactor who 
makes two blades of grass grow where one 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



2«I 



grew before, then the fanners, tlie men who 
raise the grain, and cnltivate the vegetables, 
and breed tlie cattle, are tlie great Ijenefac- 
tors of hnmanit)-. I'or without them the 
men wlio guide tlie M\'ing spindles and 
watch the whirring. wheels of modern indus- 
try could not exist a moment. They sustain 
the st)cial .structure, and trade and commerce 
but dabble in the things they produce. The 
subject of this article is a worthy representa- 
ti\e of the noble profession of agriculture. 
and his career a proper theme for this 
histoiy. 

Marion T. Overton, of [Marion townshi]). 
Lee county, was liorn in this same township 
where his years ha\"e been spent in honest 
industry. August lo, 1850. His education 
was received in the district schools, and the 
first twenty-six years of his life were passed 
under the parental rooftree. where he as- 
sisted his father in his farm labors on sec- 
tion 2j. In 1876 he established himself on 
section 28. where he engaged in the culti- 
\'ation of a fine farm, consisting of 440 
acres, which has since been icreased to 494 
acres on sections 22, 27 and 28. In 1 890-1 
he added 388 acres on section 29. He has 
put up all the buildings, and has nearly all 
the land under acli\e cultivation. He follows 
general farming, and guides his activities by 
an intelligent study of the markets of the 
world, that he may understand what will be 
the most in demand in the near future. 
Politically lie is a Republican, and in his 
own communit}' has filled several positions 
to the satisfaction of all who have had oc- 
casion to do business with him. He has 
served on the tow-nship board, and for twen- 
ty-two years he has filled the position of 



treasurer for his school district, a place he 
still holds. He is a member of the Methodist 
Ei)iscopal church for many years, and has 
long officiated as one its trustees. For two 
years he has been a steward of that body, 
and is known as an active and efficient of- 
ticial. The Farmers' Mutual Fire Associa- 
tion, of Donncllson, counts him as a work- 
ing member, and has numbered him among 
its directors since its organization. 

Mr. O\erton was married December 14. 
1876, to Miss Mary J. B. Emmerson, a 
daughter of Michael and Sarah (Dods- 
worth ) Emmerson, both natives of York- 
shir.;. England. Her father was born Oc- 
toljer II. 1815, and when he had reached 
the age of th-'rteen years was set to learn 
the tailor's trade, at which he worked seven 
years. He then worked to secure passage 
to America, towards the destinies of the 
family were tending. He arrived in the 
United States in June, 1840, and made his 
way directly to Lee county, Iowa, where he 
located on section 20, Marion township. For 
sex'eral years he worked during the summer 
season as a farm hand, and spent the win- 
ters working at his trade in Morgan county, 
Illinois. About 1843 he bought an eighty- 
acre farm in Mari(jn township, Lee county. 
Iowa, to which he added land from time 
to time, until he became the owner of 410 
acres, which under his capable management, 
became a vciy desiralile farm, and here he 
and his wife lived and died. In the mean- 
time he made a visit to England, and re- 
newed his intimacy with the scenes and 
frieiuls of his early youth. He died March 
10, 1895, his widows fini.shiug her earthly 
career I'ebruary 3. 1899, the remains of 



282 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



both Ijeing interred in the Clay Grove cem- 
eter}-. He was a member of the Church of 
England, and she of the United Brtehren. 
In politics he was a Democrat. Init never 
filled a public office. Becoming a very suc- 
cessful farmer he was naturally brought 
into public attention, but his modest and 
retiring disposition kept him close to the 
farm. He and his wife were greatly re- 
spected for their many sound and excellent 
qualities. His wife, Sarah Dodsworth, was 
born July 15, 1821. and accompanied her 
parents in their remo\'al to this country in 
1834. settling with them in Morgan county, 
Illinois. At the age of twenty-one she 
married John Emmerson, who enlisted in 
the Mexican War, and fell at Buena Vista, 
February 23, 1847. ^^ '^^'^ ^ widow and 
one so"n. In September, 1847, she married 
Michael Emmerson, and came with him to 
his home in Lee county, Iowa. To this 
union were bom three children : Anna E., 
wife of Joseph Caldwell, of Mount Pleas- 
ant, Iowa; John S., who died young, and 
:\Iary J. B., who is Mrs. M. T. Overton. 

One son, Richard W., survives her first 
marriage, and is now living in Morgan 
county, Illinois. 

Mr. and Mrs. Marion T. Overton have 
become the parents of the following chil- 
dren : Elias E., born Jime 15, i877,_ mar- 
ried Miss Minnie .V. Paschal, and resides' on 
the old Emmerson farm, in this township. 
They have one son, Charles F., born April 
10, 1901 ; John T., the .second son, torn July 
9, 1878, married Miss Lillian Paschal, and 
has his home on section 29, this township; 
Sarah Eliza, born January 3, 1883, died De- 
cember 28, 1899; William W., born Sep- 



tember 12. 1885, lives at home, as do Marion 
L., Ijorn September 5. 1887, and Frank S., 
born ?\Iarch 28, 1889. All the children were 
born in the home on section 28, and all have 
received their education in the local schools. 

Mrs. Overton was born June 5, 1858, in 
the <jld home on section 20. and was reared, 
educated and married in this township, and 
here she has spent her entire life. 

Mrs. Elias Overton, the mother of Ma- 
rion T., was born March 15, 1817, and is 
still li\-ing, hale and hearty, notwithstand- 
ing her advanced age, at ^Inunt Hamill, in 
Lee county. Elias Overton, the father of 
the subject of this sketch, whose career is 
noted under his own name in another place, 
died Alarch 29, 1893, f"'' ^'"'^ home place, 
and was buried in the Clay Grove cemetery. 

The Overton family, as will be seen by 
the foregoing sketches is a notaWe one, and 
has been a pronounced factor in the making 
of this part of Lee county. Its various 
branches have been fruitful of honest lives 
and good deeds, and all were people of more 
than the usual force of character and 
strength of purpose. Marion T. Overton 
has Ijeen no unworthy bearer of the name, 
and his personal character as well as busi- 
ness standing is beyond question. 



JOHN COSQROVE. 



John Cosgrove, who has won both busi- 
ness and social success and today represents 
one of the leading commercial enterprises of 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



283 



Kci>kiik. was born in Belfast, Ireland, on 
llie 1 I til of November, 1847. and in tbe fol- 
lowing' spring- A\'as bronght to tbe United 
States by his parents who established their 
Iionie in St. Louis, Missouri. He was a 
youth of ten \ears when they located upon 
a larni in Hancock count\-. Illinois, and Mr. 
Cosgnu'c pursued his education in the dis- 
trict schools while in the periods of vaca- 
tion he assisted in the operation of field and 
meadow. While in St. Louis be had been 
a student in the lirdthers school. When a 
youth of si.xteen he left home and came to 
Keokuk to accept a position in the wholesale 
and retail hardware estalilisbment of .\. 
Weber & Company. lie had bad no mer- 
cantile e.\])erience, but he manifested a will- 
ingness and desire to learn the business and 
his close aijplication and ready adaptability 
soon won him recognition in deserved pro- 
motions, (iradually be worked his way up- 
ward and in each transition stage of his ca- 
reer found opportunity for further progress. 
I'or sixteen years be represented the house 
upon the road as a traveling salesman and 
in 1884 be became a ])artner in the firm 
and has since been actively connected with 
the control of tbe business. He is today the 
\'ice-president of the company which is con- 
ducting an extensive wholesale and retail 
hardware trade. The re]nitatiiin which the 
bouse sustains is unassailable and Mr. Lds- 
grove added greatly to its record in this di- 
rection wdiile upon tbe road. 

In 1874 occurred tbe marriage of Mr. 
Cosgrove and Miss Mary C. Gregg, a daugh- 
ter of M, ( iregg, once a prominent merchant 
of Keokuk, but now deceased. The wed- 
diii"- was celebrated in this citv and has been 



blessed witli seven children: Cecelia, the 
wife of Lrmise Culkin, a resident of Carth- 
age, Illinois: jdjm Clement; Llizabeth ; 
Stella: I high liernard : Henry Ivlward. and 
Harriet. 

Mr. Cosgrove is a member of tbe 
Knights of Columlius, having ji lined De La- 
.Salle Council, Xo. 619, npim its organiza- 
tion. He l)elongs to Keokuk Lodge, No. 
106, Benevolent and Protecti\'e Order of 
Elks, and to the Travelers' Protective As- 
sociation. At one time be was ])resi(len1 
of the Keokuk branch nf that org;mization 
and the local secretary and treasurer. He 
was also a charter member of the Keokuk 
Club, but is not identified with that organiza- 
tion at tbe ])resent writing. He belongs to 
the Catholic Knights of .\merica and was 
a state delegate to tbe national convention, 
held in Philadelphia, and also in Indianap- 
olis — the only delegate from this state. He 
belongs to St. b'rancis ("atbnlic church and 
was one of tbe members of tbe liuilding 
committee, having in charge the erectio;; 
of tbe handsome gray stone church at tbe 
corner of High and l-'ourtb streets. His po- 
litical allegiance is always given the Dem- 
ocratic party, and he was once a candidate 
for alderman, but the Repul)licans have tbe 
niajiirity in this ward, lie ranks high in 
tbe cimncils of local and state jiolitics and 
fre(|uently attends the national conventions. 

Mr. Cosgrove owns a magnificent home 
overlooking the ri\er, it having been bnill 
by .Mr. Sanford and is situated at Xo. loi 
Xorth Second street. A local new sp;i|)er has 
said of him: "Tie ai)])lies himself closelv 
til bis business duties, but tinds time to be 
genial, courteous and comp;niionable anmni'- 



284 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW. 



liis associates in his liome city and hunclreds 
of visitors coming liere who met him during' 
liis \'ears on the road. Always in a good 
humor and with a kindly greeting for those 
with whom he comes in contact on business 
or in a social way. he makes friends readily 
and has no enemies."' As a prompt and 
thorough husiness man. a fast friend, a gen- 
ial associate, a good neighl^^r and a progres- 
si\e and valued citizen, no man in Keokuk 
stands higher than John Cosgrove. who is 
accounted today one of the foremost repre- 
sentati\'es of social. p(ilitical and husiness 
circles in Keokuk. 



MARTIN F. REIGLE. 

.Martin F. Reigle. of Fort Madison, was 
liiirn at Peru, Indiana. August 26, 1872, 
and is the son of John Reigle. who was born 
in ( icrman}-, and on cmning to .Vmerica lo- 
cated at Harrishurg, I'ennsyh'ania. Later 
Jiihn Reigle was one of the early settlers 
(if Peru, where he now lives, in his nine- 
tieth year. l'"or a time he was a locomotive 
engineer on the nld indiana])iilis, Peru & 
Michigan City Railway, hnl in the pursu- 
ance of the duties nf this position had the 
misfortune tt3 lose the use of one eye_, and 
fnr ten years acted as a stationary engineer. 
Since twentv vears ago he has been li\ing re- 
tired. The mother of our subject is Eliza- 
beth ' Mortor) Reigle. She is living at Peru, 
and is in the si.xty-eighth year of her age. 



I 'nto them have been born seven children, 
fi\-e of ',vhom besides Martin F. are li\ing". 
They are: Edward, Albert and Andrew, 
of Peru, Indiana: I'rank, of California; 
Mrs. Thomas Abxire, of St. Louis, Mis- 
souri; and ]\riss Lettie, of Kansas City. 

Martin V. Reigle grew to years of ma- 
turity at the parental hume in Pei"u. and 
at that ])lace received his schooling. After 
leaving school he was variously employed 
until 1891, when he entered the employ of 
the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway 
Com])any as a brakeman. He was assigned 
to duty on various sections of the road, mak- 
ing his first trip from Topeka to Emporia, 
then receiving a passenger run from Kansas 
Citv to Xewton. Kansas, later traveling be- 
tween Chicago and Kansas City, and since 
1K93 doing jiassenger work between Fort 
Aladison and Kansas Cit)-. Since the latter 
date he has removed to this place, and on 
September 2^. i8()6. was here married to 
^liss Minnie Becker, daughter of Charles 
and Emilie (Muender) Becker. Ciiarles 
Becker was ])orn at Melberger bei Renne 
Kreif Huford. tiermanx-, came to America 
and located at St. Louis in 1831, and there 
his marriage took ])lace in 1854. He came to 
l'"ort Madi.son in 1856, and followed his trade 
of blackstnithing and wagonmaking until 
iSyo, when he retired from active work. His 
death occurred in 1891. He was a member 
of the (icrman Lutheran chmxh. Emilie 
Pecker was born in Halle. Prussia, (icr- 
many, Decemljer 26, 1834. and came to 
.\merica in 1831. Her death occurred April 
16. 1898. L'nto Mr. and Mrs. Becker were 
born six children-: Mrs. J. W. Meyer and 
Edward !•'. Becker, of Kahoka, Missouri ; 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



28; 



Mrs. F. M. Reigle; Misses Emilie and Gal- 
lic J., of Fort Madison; and Mrs. Fred W. 
Dodd, also of Fort Madison. 

Mr. Reigle pnrchased pleasant residence 
property at 1015 Second street, Fort Mad- 
ison, December 8, 1903, and in this he makes 
his home. He also owns a handsome resi- 
dence at 1412 Fourth street. Believing Re- 
publican principles best fitted to maintain 
the general prosperity and well-being of the 
nation, he has always given his support, in 
important contests at the polls, to that party. 
In his fraternal connections he is a member 
of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, 
and the Brotherhood of American Yeomen. 
Genial. e\'er coiu'teous, and well-informed on 
all leading topics of the times, he is justly 
popular, and those among his friends who 
know him best predict for him honors, ad- 
vancement and still greater successes than 
he has achieved in the past. 



SYLVESTER T. WORLEY. 

The expansion of trade interests and 
the evolution of business conditions are no- 
ticeable factors in American history of the 
present. In every community are found 
men f)f marked enterprise who are broaden- 
ing the scope nf their labors and meeting cir- 
cumstances with an energy and discrimi- 
nati(jn that results in the development of ex- 
tensixe and imixirtant industrial and com- 



mercial ciinccrns of value to their cities as 
well as t(i the individual. ( )f this class S. 
T. W'orley is a representative who from 
a humble jjosition in business life he has 
advanced until as a carriage manufacturer 
he occupies ;i prominent place in industrial 
circles in Keokuk. 

Mr. \\"orlcy was born in Portsmouth, 
Scioto county. Ohio, on the 19th of Janu- 
ary, 1832, and is descended from German 
ancestr}-. In the early development of Penn- 
sylvania Henry and \^'illiam ^^'orIey. na- 
tives of the Fatherland, crossed the Atlantic 
to the new world, estal)lishing his home in 
Pennsylvania in 1669. The old family 
homestead near Philadelphia, which was ob- 
tained from \\'illiam Penn, is still in pos- 
session of representatives of the family 
name. John \\'orley, grandfather of S. T. 
Worley, served as a spy and scout with the 
Colonial Army in the Rex'olutionary War. 
After the establishment of peace he removed 
to Ohio, becoming a resident of that state 
when the site of the City of Cincinnati was 
occupied only by a fort. Jacob Worley, 
f.'Uhcr of S. T. W'orlev, was born and reared 
in Ohio and throughout his life followed 
the occupation of farming, save that during 
the second war with England he espoused 
his country's cause and rendered military 
service in defense of .\merican rights. He 
married Elizabeth Truitt, a native of Dela- 
ware, the Truitt family removing from that 
state to Kentucky in 1789, the family home 
being established near Flemingsburg. It 
took three years to m.ake the journey from 
Delaware on account of the Indians. Mrs. 
Worlcv's mother rode over the Alleghanv 



286 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



mountains on a pack horse. The Truitt 
family was represented in the Civil War. 
Jacob W'orley continued a resident of Ohio 
until his death, which occurred in the year 
1849 '^"'^ '""'S widow afterward removed to 
Quincy, Illinois, where her death occurred 
in 1874. In the family were three daugh- 
ters who reached mature years : Evelyn, the 
wife of James .Hall, of Ottumwa, Iowa; 
Ann, who became the wife of H. \"each and 
died in Quincy, Illinois, and Lydia, the 
widow of Moses Hall, of Quincy, who was 
captain on a river steamer. 

S. T. Worley was reared to manhood in 
the state of his nativity upon the old home 
farm and when twenty-one years of age he 
was married in 1853 ^^ Portsmouth. Ohio, 
to Miss Caroline Pyle, who died in 1856, 
leaving two children, of whom Charles died 
in Keokuk at the age of thirty-six years. 
The other, Laura E., is now the wife of 
Seaberry Chandler, who resides upon a farm 
near \\'arsaw, Illinois. After loosing his 
first wife Mr. \\'orley was married again in 
Portsmouth in 1858. his second union being 
with Elizabeth J. Hicks. In i860 he re- 
mo\-ed with his family to Quincy, Illinois. 
He had previously learned the carriage- 
maker's trade at Portsmouth and he con- 
ducted a shop there and upon his removal to 
Onincy. Illinois, he established a similar 
enterprise, which he conducted until his 
enli.stment for service in the' Cicil War. In 
June, 1862. his patriotic spirit having been 
aroused, he joined the army as a private, but 
was made lieutenant on the organization of 
Company A. One Hundred and Nineteenth 
Illinois Infantry, and cm tlie ileath of Cap- 



tain Holland he was commissioned captain 
of his company. The regiment was under 
comtnand of Colonel Kinnev and was as- 
signed to the Sixteenth Army Corps, doing 
dnt}' in Tennessee, ^ilississippi. Louisiana 
and Arkansas. Captain \\'orley participated 
in the battles of Champion Hills, Fort 
Derussa. P'leasant Hill, Moore's Plantation, 
Markville Prairie and Yellow Bayou. The 
ranks of the regiment had been so depleted 
that it numbered only 250 men at the time 
of the last-named engagement. All the 
officers in the regiment but three were 
wounded or killed and forty-se\'en men were 
killed in that engagement in about four 
minutes. Captain Worlev and five others 
were the only ofiicers who escaped. He par- 
ticipated in the liattles of Tupelo, ^lississippi, 
and in a two days" engagement at Xashville 
and was mustered out imder special field 
order issued by General Thomas, depart- 
ment commander, in March, 1865. He was 
a bra\'e and Inyal soldier, careful of his men 
yet never hesitating to lead them wherever 
duty called and with a most creditable mili- 
tary record he returned to his home in 
Qiuncy. 

In /vpril. following, j\Ir. W'orley came 
■ to Keokuk and established a carriage fac- 
tory on First street, continuing business 
there until 1884, when he built on Johnson 
and Se\enth streets. When his son attained 
a sufficient age he was admitted to a part- 
nership and the fimi was incorporated under 
the present style of the ^\'^orley Carriage 
Company. The preseiU building is 50x80 
feet and two stories in height with basement. 
From the time of the establishment of the en- 



LEE COUNTY. IOWA. 



287 



terprise it has constantl\' grown in x'nlunie 
and importance and tlie Inisiness has 
readied Iarg;e annual figures, furnishing em- 
plo\-nient to a number of workmen and 
liringing a gratifying annual return. As his 
financial resources ha\e made it possible Mr. 
W'orlev has become the owner of extensive 
farm rmd timber lands in Dent and Riles 
counties, he and his sons having bought 600 
acres there. 

L'nto Air. and Mrs. W'orlev ha\'e lieen 
born nine children : William, who is in part- 
nership with liis father; Emma, the wife of 
Paul Richardson, superintendent of the 
Keokuk Gas Works: Ida. the wife of H. B. 
Barnes, a farmer of Hannibal. Missouri; 
James, who ch'ed at Oakland. California, in 
1900. at the age cff thirty years and was 
laid at rest in the Keokuk cemetei'y ; Harry 
F.. a practicing physician of Oakland, 
California; Grace, the wife of Lewis Rein- 
ard. of Pheonix. Arizona, and Mary, the 
wife of Dr. X. B. Patty, of Syracuse, Ne- 
braska. 

While Captain Worlc)- has led a very 
busy and useful life he has yet found time 
from his inrlustrial interests to devote to 
thf)se lines of actix'ity which develop char- 
acter and ])romote the moral growth of the 
communit}'. He has long been a prominent 
member of the I^'irst ]\[ethodist lipiscopal 
church and for twenty years has served on 
its board of trustees. He has been an active 
worker in the Sunday school for forty years, 
thirty years being a teacher of the young 
men's class and by example as well as ])re- 
cept he has done much to inculcate those 
princijjles whfch develoj) strong and honor- 
able manhood and which work for the ethical 



ideas in all life's relations. Mr. W^irley 
likewise belongs to Torrence Post, Xo. 2, 
Grand Arm\- of the Republic, and he gives 
his political allegiance to the Republican 
party. His home is at the corner of Twenty- 
first and Orleans streets and he owns a small 
fruit farm of nine acres. It is his intention 
soon to retire from active business life, hav- 
ing through the long years of his connection 
with the trade of carriage manufacturing 
dex-clojied a business that has brought him 
gratifying success. To him there has come 
the attainment of a distinguished position 
in cfMinection with the great material in- 
dustries of the county and his efforts have 
lieen so discernitiglv directed along well-de- 
finefl lines thai he seems to ha\'e realized 
at any one point of progress the full measure 
of his possibilities for accomplishment at that 
point. Moreo\'er, his entire career has been 
in harmony with the rules that govern un- 
swerving integrity and honorable manhood 
and his entire career has won him not only 
the admiration but respect. 



THE REV. FATHER JOHN TEQELER. 

The Reverend Father John Tegeler, 
whose career forms the subject of this bio- 
graphical study, belongs to the number of 
those ministers of religion who wait on the 
altars of faith with deep devotion and make 
their lives eloquent with good deeds and 
helpful words. As a priest of the Catholic 
church he has been faithful and devoted. 



^88 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



and as a citizen public spirited and awake 
to all social interests. He has shirked no 
responsibility that attended his divinely ap- 
pointed labors, and has been a man of sym- 
pathy, godly counsel and ready charity. No 
needy soul turns unrelieved from his door. 
He chides, pleads and entreats for the better 
way. and is a living gospel of help and 
cheer. Such is the tnte priest of the ever- 
lasting church, "founded on the Rock," and 
■such has been the ideal of the minister of 
Jesus Christ tliat has ever been cherished in 
the heart of the rector of St. James's Catholic 
church of St. Paul, Lee county. To wait on 
the oracles of faith, to declare the full gos- 
pel of his blaster, to guide his people in 
the way of truth, honesty and sobriety, to 
watch, and lead and pray, and bear them 
■on a tender heart has ever been his work 
and spirit, and for it he is known and re- 
vered, beloved by his own flock, and much 
respected by all in the community, who 
liave come to prize him at his full worth, 
and to kno\\' how true and strong a man he 
is. 

The Rev. Father John Tegeler, the pres- 
ent elocfuent and devoted rector of St. 
James's Catholic church of St. Paul, Lee 
■county, was born in New Vienna, Dubuque 
county, Iowa, March ig. 1859, a son of Ger- 
hard H. and Frances (Belm) Tegeler, His 
father was a native of the town of Thine, 
Alfhausen, Germany. His mother w-as born 
in Rieste. Hanover, Germany. The father 
was born January 18, 1827, and his good 
■wife August 24, 1824. When he was a 
young man he became a plasterer, and for 
many years followed tiiat trade in the 
United States after his arrival on the Amer- 



ican shore. \\'hen he was twenty }'ears of 
age he crossed the ocean, and settled in 
Onincy, Illinois, where he was married in 
1852. Some years later he removed to Dy- 
ersville, Iowa, where he purchased a farm, 
on which his family was reared, while he 
himself worked at his trade. Still later he 
purchased a home in D)-ersville, Iowa, 
where he and his wife spent their last days 
in that peace and comfort that should attend 
the closing period of a true and noble ca- 
reer. He died December 27, 1899, and his 
widow December 9, 1900, and both are bur- 
ied in St. Francis's cemeter}', Dyersville, 
Iowa. They and all of their family 
were devout members of St. Francis's 
Catholic church, of Dyersville, Iowa. 
To them were born the following 
children: Henry, wdio married Miss Anna 
Burkle ; Barne}-, who died young ; Katie, the 
wife of G. W. Sudmeier: Gerhard J., who 
married Miss Anna Brunsmann : Barney, 
who married Theresa Beckmann : John, the 
pastor of St. James; Joseph J., who mar- 
ried Miss Maggie Filers: Lewis, wdio mar- 
ried Miss Mary Steffin. All these children 
are living near Dyersville except the suli- 
ject of this sketch. 

The Reverend Father John Tegeler was 
born and reared on a farm. His priniary ed- 
ucation was secured in a district school, 
and the opportunities for health and phys- 
ical culture, together with the liuilding of 
nervous vitality and force, were his, and 
he profited by the privileges that were open 
to boys on what was still in no small meas- 
ure the frontier. For one term he was a 
student in the Dyersville high school ; and 
when he was twentv-one he entered St. 



% 



LEE COUNTY, lOlVA. 



28(> 



Joseph College, at Dubuque, Iowa, April i, 
i8So, for the purpose of taking a classical 
course in that institution. He had at that 
time as the ambition of his life to become 
a priest, and for that purpose after his grad- 
uation in Dubuque, he was for two years a 
student at Mount Cal\-ary. a Wisconsin col- 
lege, from which he went to Cape Cirardeau, 
Missouri, where he completed his theolog- 
ical studies with high honors, and was grad- 
uated in May, 1890. He was ordained to 
the priesthood on the 31st of the same 
month Iiy the Right Reverend H. Cosgrove, 
of Davenport, Iowa, and soon after he was 
called to Bauer, Iowa, where he also had 
charge of a mission at Rosemount. In 
February, !<;o2, he was appointetl rector of 
St. James's church, at St. Paul, Lee county, 
Iowa, and entered at once upon the sacred 
duties of that position with zeal and devo- 
tion. He arrived at his appointed field of 
labor, and on the following Monday broke 
ground for a new parsonage. By his un- 
tiring energ}' and push he has here erected 
a most modem home, in w hich 90,000 lirick 
w'ere used. It is modern in all its equip- 
ments, and has before it a fine lawn on which 
many trees have been set out. The build- 
ing cost $5,000, and is a marked credit to 
the county. 

St. James's church is a line ]>rick Innld- 
ing, I50.xr)0 feet, with a tower 175 feet in 
height. Father Tegeler has made many im- 
provements in the house of worship, added 
much to its adornment, and today has one 
of the finest churches and the best appointed 
home in this section of the county. On his 
clnux'h rolls are carried the names of over 
125 families, and connected with it is a par- 



ish school under the supervision of three 
sisters of the Order of St. Francis, P. A. 
They ha\-e the care of a hundred or more 
pupils, and the school is widely known for 
its fine spirit and thorough work, 

h'ather Tegeler is a Democrat in his po- 
litical \iews. though his profession demands 
all his thought and attention. He is widely 
read ;nid deeply educated both in school and 
by tra\el. having been over much of the 
United States, and equally at home, in Ger- 
man, English and Latin. He is a polished 
and scholarly gentleman and ])e:irs himself 
e\-erywhere with that kindly dignity and 
gracious manner that become his sacred 
calling. 



BENJAMIN B.JEWELL 

Those who have to do with the banking 
interests of a community hold in their 
hands its most vital springs of action. Tlie 
bank has become the heart of the business 
world, which has become so complicated that 
only those who are in daily touch can un- 
derstand how vital to all commercial activi- 
ties is the accommodation and facility af- 
forded by the various banking institutions, 
both large and small. Mr. Jewell, whose 
name introduces this sketch, has been asso- 
ciated with the Keokuk Savings Bank for a 
long period of years in the capacity of gen- 
eral bookkeeper, and in that time has be- 
come intimately acquainted with the powers 
and privileges of the bank. Prior to his 
becoming cniniected with the Keokuk insti- 



290 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



tution he was in business many years as a 
wholesale grocer, so that it is hardly too 
much to say that he is one of the most ac- 
complished commercial men of southeastern 
Iowa. Kindly and courteous in his manner 
he is quick in his conclusions, and strong in 
his convictions. In the long period in which 
he has been in active life in Keokuk he has 
made a host of friends, and is universally 
pronounced one of the leading spirits of the 
city. 

Benjamin Blackiston Jewell was born in 
Madison, Indiana, July 10. 1839, a son of 
William J. and Eliza A. (Blackiston) Jew- 
ell. The father was born in Baltimore, 
Maryland. October i, 1812, and died April 
12, 1 89 1. He was a painter by occupation, 
and led a long and useful life. Eliza Ann 
Blackiston, to whom he was married at 
New Albany, Indiana, May 27, 1834, was 
born February 14, 18 15, and died Decem- 
ber 19, 1884. In their long and happy mar- 
ried life of fifty years, they were l)Iessed 
with the liirth of the following children : 
Harriet Eliza, who was born January i, 
1837 : Benjamin Blackiston ; Charles Wil- 
liam ; Sarah Elizabeth ; Mary Margaret ; 
John and James Edward. 

Mrs. William James Jewell was the 
daughter of Benjamin Blackiston, who was 
born in Kent county, Maryland, in May, 
1788, and who came west in 1819 to New 
Albany, Indiana, in 1819. He married 
Eliza Erskine March 28, 18 14. who lived 
until November t, 1868. They reared the 
following children : Eliza Ann, who was 
born February 15. 1815, and died Decem- 
ber 19. 1884; Edward; Benjamin F. ; Mar- 
garet : Sarah ; Hester Caroline ; Mary Su- 



sannah ; James Edward and Elizabeth Jane, 
who were twins. 

John Jewell, the grandfather of Benja- 
min B. Jewell, whose career is the theme 
of this writing, was born July 18, 1788, 
and is the earliest ancestor of the Keokuk 
bookkeeper, of whom there is an authentic 
record. He was a cliairmaker and a painter 
by trade, and lived in Baltimore. He bore 
arms for his country when the English in- 
vaded that section of the nation in the War 
of 18 12, and was in the engagement at 
Blandensburg. About 18 18 he removed to 
Indiana, where he soon established himself 
in a paying business. Twice married, his 
first wife was Sarah Gregory, to whom he 
was united in matrimony October 4, 18 10. 
She was born in 1789, and died September 
5, 1819. To them were born: Mary, born 
July II, 181 1 ; William James; Susanna, 
February 4, 18 14; Elizabeth, November 11, 
18 1 5, died January 3, 1900; Sarah Ann, 
.August 23, 1817, died December 19, 1817; 
and John, September 5, 1819, died October 
25, 18 19. Air. Jewell contracted a second 
marriage, December 21, 1819, when Miss 
Sarah Davidson became liis wife. She was 
born May i, 1796, and became the mother 
of the following children : Thomas Asa, 
born December 8, 1820, died September 
20, 1821 ; Harriet; Charlotte; Amanda; Al- 
fred D. : Sarah Eliza and Laura A. The 
father of these children died May 15, 1842. 

William J. Jewell learned the painter's 
trade from his father, with whom he was as- 
sociated in business for several years. This 
business he carried on after the death of his 
father, and for two and a half years made 
his home in New Albanv. He then re- 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



291 



moved to Keokuk, where he arrived Novem- 
ber I, 1855. Here he resumed work at his 
trade, which he followed until about 1883. 
His death occurred on April 12, 189 1. Mrs. 
Jewell died December 19, 1S84. 

Of the children of Mr. and Mrs. William 
J. Jewell, the following facts may be men- 
tioned : Harriet E. married Thomas J. Har- 
desty, and is now a widow residing- in Keo- 
kuk. Charles William died in childhood. 
Benjamin Blackiston is the subject of this 
article. Sarah E. has her home with her 
brother, Benjamin B. Mary M. is the wife 
of J. D. Graves, and is now living at Aspin- 
wall. Pennsylvania. John is living in Keo- 
kuk, where his brother, James E., died in 
1884. 

Benjamin Blackiston Jewell, the subject 
of this article, received his early education 
in the public schools of Indiana. For a 
time he was a student in a private school, 
but when he was fourteen years of age he 
passed from the school room into active 
business, and was employed in mercantile 
pursuits until he came to Keokuk in No- 
vember, 1855. For some two years he was 
a clerk in a retail store, when he took a po- 
sition as bookkeeper. January t, 1865. he 
became a meml>er of the firm of S. Pollock 
& Company, wholesale grocers, a position 
he continued to fill for twenty-four years, 
and until the firm retired from business in 
November, 1889. He became connected 
with the Keokuk Savings Bank as general 
bookkeeper June. 1890. As a business man 
he is alert and capable, taking rank among 
the leading men of the city ; and personally 
he has many friends both in and out of his 
commercial associations. 



Mr. Jewell is a Republican in political 
matters, and takes a prominent part in all 
city matters. He has been treasurer of the 
City of Keokuk two terms of a year each, 
and for twenty-four years has been a trus- 
tee of the Keokuk public library, and -chair- 
man of books and catalogue committee for 
many years. 

The long and useful career, which is 
briefly outlined above, abounds with inci- 
dents which illustrate the genuine worth 
and dignity of the character of Mr. Jewell. 
He has carried himself .so carefully and well 
that as he advances into the midst of the 
years he writes a record of integrity and 
uprightness. His life is worthy of study 
and his business career worthy of emula- 
tion. 



DAVID HOUGHTON. 



David Houghton, now engaged in busi- 
ness as a barber at Montrose, Iowa, was born 
Octolier 23. 1840, in Orange county, Ver- 
mont, the son of David and Elizabeth 
( Rowell) Houghton, both natives of Ver- 
mont, and is the sixth of eight brothers and 
sisters, of whom only three now survive, 
these being Melissa, wife of C. Hamma, of 
Sonora. Illinois; Pomelia, wife of William 
Dnstin, of Oregon, and our subject. In 
1841, the year following that of his birth, 
he came with his parents to Nauvoo, Illinois, 
the\' being converts to the faith of the Latter 
Day Saints or Mormons, and having sold 
their property in \'^erTnont to follow the 



292 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



fortunes of the prophet, Joseph Smith. For 
his adherence to the new faith David Hough- 
ton. Sr.. was disinherited by his father, a 
wealtliy citizen of Vermont. l)Ut he neverthe- 
less rehnquished all his interests in his na- 
ti\'e state, including a very desirable posi- 
tion as manager of a large shoe factorj' em- 
ploving sixty men. and set up a shoemaker's 
shop in Nauwoo, where he prospered, and 
by his industry built up a good business. He 
lomained a ^lormon all his life, and in 
1848 went to Prairie du Chien, where he 
died the same year, while his wife died at 
the home of her son, David, in Montrose 
iu 1 87 1, she having been remarried to a 
Air. Timnions and returned to Nauvoo, 
where she taught school after the occupa- 
tion of that place Ijy a French colony. 

When ten }-ears old Mr. FToughton left 
home in consequence of a quarrel with one 
of his schoolfellows, and went to live with 
a sister in Chicago, where he remained, 
\.()rking as a shingle packer for ten years, 
returning in 1854 to Montrose, and here he 
has since continuously resided. He worked 
for a time in the boat yard owned by John 
Bunker, and in the autumn of 1861 en- 
listed in Company B, Seventeenth Iowa 
Volunteer Infantry under Colonel Rankin 
and Cai)tain Hnxie. In the spring of 1862 
he went into camp at Benton Barracks, St. 
Louis, and after remaining there for two 
weeks proceeded down the Mississippi river 
to Shiloli. landing at tliat place just after 
the battle, but in time to participate in the 
battles of Corinth and luka. At Jackson, 
Mississippi, he was captured by Rebel forces 
and placed in Liliby prison at Richmond, 
Virginia, whence after about fiftv davs he 



was paroled, and went to the hospital at 
Annapolis, INIaryland, being detained there 
for a period of seven or eight months on 
account of suffering from gangrene in the 
right hand. After ninety days spent at 
Camp Tyler, Baltimore, subsequent to his 
leaving the hospital, he set out to rejoin his 
regiment, meeting it at Scottsboro, Georgia, 
and the next battle in which he was engaged 
was the second fight at Corinth in 1863, and 
while occupying a blockhouse at Tilden he, 
with the entire regiment, was captured by 
the soldiers of General Hood on October 13, 
1864. Thence he was taken to Kahoba, 
then to I\Ielon, Georgia, and later to the fa- 
mous military prison of the Confederacy at 
Anderson\ille. where he remained a prisoner 
of war until April i. 1865. a period of more 
than six months, during which he suffered 
great hardships. Released from prison, he 
was at Vicksburg at the time of the as- 
sassination of President Lincoln, and im- 
mediately thereafter started north, landing 
first at St. Louis, where for two weeks he 
was at Benton Barracks, and then returned 
to Montrose, and three days after his arrival 
here was called to Davenport. Jowa. where 
he was honorably discharged from the serv- 
ice of his country after a long and faithful 
devotion to duty on field of battle, in camp 
and in many perilous situations. After the 
close of the w ar he worked for some time as 
a freight handler on the !\Iississippi river, 
lighting freight over the Des Moines rapids. 
On July II, 1866, Mr. Houghton was 
united in marriage to Miss Mary Ann Ray, 
he then took up his present occupation, that 
of a barber, having learned the trade while 
a prisoner in Andersonville, and this he has 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



293 



ever since continued with great success. He 
has taken an active interest in public affairs 
as a member of the Republican part)-, hav- 
ing served two terms in the city council and 
also having been once elected to the office of 
constable, although he refused to' accept the 
office. Fraternally, he is a charter member 
of Tip Best Post, No. 75, Grand Army of 
the Republic, while Mrs. Houghton is a 
member of the Woman's Relief Corps. 
They occupy a pleasant home at Second and 
Walnut streets, and enjoy the esteem and 
regard of a large circle of friends. 



GEORGE WILSON. 



In so new a country as the world west 
of the rolling waters of the Mississippi may 
be considered, it is somewhat difficult to 
form a proper itlea of how young the old 
families may be. Such a term in Europe 
would mean hundreds of years, and many 
generations in New England. In Lee 
county it means perhaps the span, or less 
than that, of a human life. It is measured 
by what has been done rather than by what 
time has been required in the doing of it. 
Judged in this way, the Wilsons and the 
Drollingcrs are old families. They have 
seen a wonder-working in the planting of 
civilization in the wilderness accompli.shed, 
and in the doing of it they also helped. 

George Wilson, the son of Hugh and 
Susan (Skyles) Wilson, was born on the 
1)anks of the Cumberland river in Tennessee, 



in 1809. and coming to Lee county in 1834, 
secured a tract of government land compris- 
ing 160 acres. From time to time he added 
to this until he owned 400 acres. His mar- 
riage occurred in Schuyler county, Illinois. 
July 22. 1832, and his wife died June 2, 
187S, and he, March 20, 1891. Their eleven 
children were as follow's : James, Susan, 
Elizabeth. Sarah. Jane, Louisa. George, 
I lannah, John and others who d.ied in in- 
fancy. George Wilson was a Democrat and 
a member of the Methodist church. He 
bore arms in the Black Hawk War, and 
was remembered by those who knew him 
■best and in his prime as a man of resolution 
and activity. 

The Drollinger F.\mily came to Lee 
county from Illinois and settled on the place 
which has been the family .homestead since 
their marriage. Of this family all are now 
deceased with the exception of Benjamin 
Wesley, who is a son of Samuel and Rachel 
(Cook) Drollinger. He was born in Indi- 
ana December 4, 1830, where he was reared 
to the life of a farmer. His marriage to 
Miss Susan Laura Wilson occurred Decem- 
ber 14, 1 85 1. She was born in Commerce, 
Illinois, January 13. 1834. and was brought 
into Iowa when only three months old. 
Here she has since maintained her home. 
To this union have come nine children : 
George Monroe ; Burrle Perry ; Rachel Re- 
becca, who died at the age of four years; 
Emma Louise; Laura Caroline, who died 
at the age of two years ; Frances Ellen ; Mary 
Malvina; Benjamin Franklin, and Anna 
Luticia. 

Mr. Drollinger is a Democrat, and has 
filled the office of treasurer for this district 



294 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



for the last twenty-five years. He is a man 
of whom good things are said, and is liighly 
respected by the friends and neighbors of 
the commvmity in which his peaceful life is 
passing. He is a member of the United 
Brethren church, where his honest character, 
upright dealing and truthful spirit gave 
strength to his religious profession. 

Moses Justice, the great-grandfather of 
Mrs. Drollinger, was a veteran of the Revo- 
lutionary War and lived to be loi years old. 



JOSEPH GREGORY. 



Jose])h Gregory, formerly identified with 
building operations in Keokuk but now en- 
gaged in the raising of small fruit, was bom 
in Indiana near the City of Indianapolis, 
March 27, 1839, and comes of Quaker par- 
entage. His father. Silas Gregory, a native 
of North Carolina, was a prominent mem- 
ber of the Society of Friends. He followed 
the occu])ation of farming in Indiana for a 
number of years and afterward removed to 
■ Keokuk. Iowa. He first wedded Sarah 
Allen, who died in Indiana in 1862 and later 
married Miss Jane Holxson. who died in 
1885 at Richland, Iowa. Silas Gregory was 
a gentleman of broad humanitarian prin- 
ciples, strongly opposed to slavery or to op- 
pression in any form and he did much to 
counteract the unfavorable conditions of life 
that worked hardships for people in his lo- 
cality. During the great famine in Ireland 
when so many were starving his feelings 



were on one occasion deeply touched by 
the song of an itinerant musician traveling 
over the country with a melodion. The 
chorus ran : 

"Give me three grains of corn, mother, 

Oh, give me three grains of corn. 
It will keep the little life I have 
Until the coming of the morn." 

The song .so touched Mr. Gregory and 
acquainted him with the conditions in Ire- 
land that he forthwith entered upon the 
service of gathering quantities of corn from 
among his Quaker friends and the result 
was that many hundred bushels of corn went 
from his Indiana neighbors by boat, finally 
reaching Ireland, where it helped to sustain 
the famished nation. He was a great- 
hearted man of philanthropic nature and 
gave practical and generous assistance to the 
poor and needy. By his first marriage he 
had ten children, five of whom are yet living, 
namely: Eliza, the wife of Levi Pierce, of 
Kansas; Hulda. the wife of I. M. Hornaday, 
of Morgan county, Indiana ; Joseph ; John, 
of Indiana, and Albert, of Kansas. Those 
that are dead are William, Richard M., 
Rieley, Rebecca and Anice. 

Joseph Gregory was reared on his 
father's fami, pursued a common-school 
education and assisted in the development 
and cultivation of the fields until tiie 9th 
of August, 1862, when he enlisted at Mon- 
rovia, Indiana, as a member of Company D, 
Seventieth Indiana Infantry, under Captain 
Johnson and Col. Benjamin Harrison. The 
regiment was assigned to the Army of the 
Cumberland and became a part of the 
Twentieth Army Corps in Sherman's cam- 
paign under the command of Gen. Joe 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



295 



Hnoker. Tlie [jrincipal engagements in 
which Mr. Gregoiy participated were at 
Russellville, Stone Ri\er, Rocky-faced 
Ridge, Resaca, Cassville, New Hope Church, 
Kenesaw Mountain, Marietta, Peach Tree 
Creek and the siege of Atlanta. While at 
Chattanciga he was transferred to the First 
United States \'eteran Volunteer Engineers 
and, remaining at Chattanooga, assisted in 
the erection of forts and stockades. He was 
mustered out there on the 30th of June, 
1865, fi.)rt\' (lavs liefore the expiration of 
his term of enlistment, hut the war had 
ended and his services were no longer 
needed. He had joined the army as a 
private, hut was corporal in the engineering 
corps. He was never wounded, hut sus- 
tained injuries in the fall of 1862 and on 
account of this has for five years been dis- 
abled for active work in the lin* of his 
trade. Mr. Gregory was personally ac- 
quainted with Gen. Joseph Hooker and re- 
lates many interesting anecdotes concerning 
that commander when in the service. He 
also had a ])ersonal acquaintance with Gen. 
Benjamin Harrison, ex-president nl the 
United States, whom he knew in Indiana. 

I'or a year after his return to ci\il life 
Mr. Gregoi-y suffered from malaria. He 
then went to Brookfield, Missouri, where he 
worked :U the carpenter's trade and during 
three years of the nine years that he spent 
there lie was carpenter for the Hannibal & 
St. Joseph Railroad Company. In 1874 he 
removed to Richland, low'a, where he spent 
ten years as a car])enter and builder ;uul then 
came to Keokuk, where he worked at his 
trade as a contractor. He was also for six 



years a stairbuilder with George Xunn. and 
he spent three years in business on his own 
account as a contractor and Iniilder. In 
1 89 1 he jnuxhased his present home and 
now has ten acres planted to small fruits. 
This gives to him a good annual income, the 
products of the jjlrice finding a ready .sale 
on the market. 

In 1 859 Mr. Gregory was married in 
Mooresville. Indiana, to Miss Martha E. 
Harvey and they have six living children : 
.Mhinus Edwin, who is married and has a 
family, makes his home in Minneapolis, 
Minnc-^ota, and is superintendent of con- 
struction for the Twin City Telephone Com- 
pany, installing its plant; Annie Gertrude 
is the wife of Charjes N. Hood, of Min- 
neapolis, who is foreman of the Cable Sup- 
ply Telephone Company; Amanda B. is the 
wife ofW. H. Weed, a mechanic, of Keokuk; 
Lydia is the wife of William Davies, fore- 
man of a printing establishment of Keokuk; 
.Sadie married Charles Alden, who is em- 
ployed by the Habinger Starch Company, of 
Cleveland, Ohio, and John Roscoe is fore- 
man of the Alissouri-Kansas City Telephone 
Com])any ;ind resides at Springfield, Mis- 
souri. Mr. and Mrs. Gregoi-y also lost one 
son. Charles Bert, who was killed by a street 
car when twenty-four years of age. He was 
superintendent of an electric light plant. Init 
was k'ilk'd while coupling cars on a run that 
he was making as motorman for a friend. 

Mr. Gregory has been a valued repre- 
sentative of Iowa since 1874, exemplifying 
in his life the beneficent spirit of the craft. 
He is also a leading meml)er of the Grand 
.\rmv Post at Keokuk rmd is now acting 



296 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



as commander of Torrence Post. He at- 
tended the state encampment for two years 
and in 1903 he went as commander of Tor- 
rence Post. He is now a Hfe member of 
the state department. His poHtical al- 
legiance is given to the Republican party 
and he has ser\-ed by appointment on two 
occasions as ward registrar. He belongs to 
the First Methodist Episcopal church, of 
which he is a classleader and he has served 
as trustee and steward and also as superin- 
tendent of the Sunday school. He assisted 
in completing the church and in dedicating 
it as a member and trustee and has been 
very helpful in church work. He is a man 
of broad sympathies and the poor and needy 
have found in him a friend. In all life's 
relations he has commanded uniform con- 
fidence and respect and has made for himself 
a splendid reputation as a business man, as 
a soldier and as a citizen, while in his home 
antl among his friends he has displayed the 
sterling traits of manhood that ever com- 
mand good will and confidence. 



FREDERICK W. SMITH. 

The State of Iowa is greatly indebted to 
its citizens of Gennan birth and blood who 
have done much to build it up to its present 
imperial proportions. They are a careful 
and conservative people, industrious in their 
habits, economical in their manner of life, 
aufl as a bodv are ever found on the moral 



side of every question. It is always safe to 
appeal to their better nature. Every great 
reform has found among them stanch ad- 
\ocates. They were the stoutest opponents 
of slavery; they are the most persistent 
friends of a uniform and general public 
education. 

Air. Smith, whose name appears above, 
is a noteworthy representative of an old 
German family, though he himself was born 
in Washington, Pennsylvania, November 9, 
1 85 1. His father. Joseph Smith ( Schmitt), 
was born in Bavaria, in 181 G, and when he 
was seventeen years of age emigrated to the 
United States. In Pennsylvania he fol- 
lowed the trade of a shoemaker, luit on his 
removal to Lee county, Iowa, he secured 
land in Charleston township, and the re- 
mainder of his active life was a farmer. 
He is nt^w retired, and is making his home 
with a daughter in Keokuk. At one time 
he owned a fine farm of 175 acres, but has 
long since converted it into cash. 

Joseph Smith has led a somewhat check- 
ered career, having had to face serious trou- 
bles when he was quite young. His father 
died when he was but six years old. and 
though his step-father proved a kind- 
hearted and capable man, was not as his own. 
He brought the family to America, and here 
the young lad left school at the age of four- 
teen years and set himself to learning the 
shoemaking trade. The family, consisting 
of mother, step-father and seven children, 
landed at Baltimore in September, 1834. 

Joseph Smith became a young man and 
located himself in Pennsylvania, where he 
married Miss Henrietta Wittich, in January, 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



297 



1839. in the City of Washington. Here he 
worked at his trade until 1854, when he re- 
moved to linva w ith liis wile and tlieir sc\cn 
cliildren. His ad\-enl was not encouraging 
for of his first two years in the state eigh- 
teen months were taken up I)y a severe ill- 
ness. For some two years he did mason 
wnrk nixin the W'as'.iington and Jefferson 
College, then in process of construction ; 
he was also employed in the erection of a 
female seminary at ^Vashington. Pennsyl- 
vania. 

Tn Lee county Mr. Smith bought land 
of Mr. Casey and a Mr. Eaton, and from 
others as well. These tracts of land he 
held until 1869, when he sold them to buy 
the "Heiike! farm," in \'an Buren township, 
of John r\Ic\'e}-. Here for twenty years or 
more he was acti\'ely engaged in farming, 
leading a thoroughly industrious, honest and 
useful life. Ten children were born to him, 
all liut one of whcmi are now living. His 
daughter, Agnes, who married Jnhu Ander- 
son, died when she was twenty-eight years 
old, having become the mother of three 
chiUlren. — Carrie, George L. and Leroy. 
Mr. .Nnderson is also dead. Of the other 
children this may be noted: John \\'. lives in 
Sioux county, Iowa ; Henrietta C. is the 
wife of Steven Beaty, of Farniington, Iowa; 
Mary F,. is Mrs. Fred Geiser, of Keokuk, 
Iowa : Rosa is single, and is a nurse at 
Des Moines; Hannah L. Nenhoff lives in 
Chicago: Frederick W. is the subject of this 
writing; Samuel B. lives in Keokuk; l'~lla 
1 l;u-dwick has her home in California, and 
Nettie is Mrs. Henry Blagg, of Des Moines. 

The mother of IMr. Smith lived to be 
se\enty-two years of age, and her remains 



rest in F,ml)erry cemetery, \'an Buren town- 
shi]), Lee county. She was a woman of 
mure than the u^ual force of character, and 
lier mcmriry is dear to those who knew her 
and lox'ed her for many c.Kccllent qualities 
of heart and mind. 

Jdlm W. Smith, the oldest brother of 
I'Veclerick W'.. was a soldier in the Civil 
War, and served five years in the First Iowa 
Cavalry as a member of Company A, under 
the command of Captain Torrence. Upon 
the expiration (jf his first term of enlistment 
he re-enlisted, and when he was finallv mus- 
tered OLit of service he was much broken in 
health, coming home seriously ill. .\fter 
a protracted sickness he recovered, and is 
now lis'ing in Sioux county, Iowa. 

Mr. Smith often says that the happiest 
moment of his life v.^as when he was handed 
his naturalization papers, which gave him 
the full rights of an Atnerican citizen. He 
is well \'ersed in the political questions of 
the day, I'eing always an extensive reader 
of the English papers. His support is given 
to the Republican part}', of which he is a 
stanch advocate. 

l-"redcrick \\'. Smith was gi\-en more 
th.an the usual educational adwantages. In 
addition to the privilege of the public school, 
he enjoyed the opportunity of studying at 
Whittier College, an old and well-established 
instilulion of learning at Salem, Iowa. He 
became a capable and successful teacher, and 
for eighteen years found profitable employ- 
ment in the school room, ^\^^en he taught 
at Salina, b^iwa. he did the work of two 
teachers, ami had se\enty-twii pupils under 
his charge. In 1890 he retired from the 
teacher's calling, mid bnving his father's 



298 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



place in Van Buren township, has since been 
devoted to the cultivation of the soil. He 
has sold the Van Buren township farm, but 
reinvesting the proceeds in land, he now 
owns a splendid tract of 250 acres on which 
he has made his home since 1891. 

On Christmas Day, 1884, Mr. Smith and 
Miss Sarah E. Brown were married in Sum- 
mitville, Iowa, where the Ijride was born 
and reared, her birth occurring March 22, 
1858. Her father, John J. Brown, was born 
in Utica, Michigan. August 29, 1830, and 
was a son of Andrew Brown, commonly 
called "Citizen" Brown, in recognition of 
his wide-awake spirit and public interest. 
At one time the grandfather owned a large 
warehouse in Keokuk, where his son, John, 
assisted him, doing "lighter" work, or car- 
rying goods over the Des Moines rapids of 
the Mississippi river. It was impossible at 
that time for the river packets to ascend the 
rapids, something they were not able to do 
until the construction of the canal by the 
government. Mr. Brown became a wealthy 
man and purchased some 400 acres of land 
in Montrose township, though his home con- 
tinued in Keokuk until his retirement fmm 
active business, when he removed to Clay- 
ton, Illinois, where he died. His wife was 
born at Johnstone, and came of .Scotch par- 
entage. 

John J. Brown was married April 5, 
1854, to Mrs. Elizabeth Null (nee Meltz), 
who was born in Calhoun county, Illinois, 
November 11, 1827, and was of German 
parentage. She died J.inuary 31, icSyS, and 
he March 4, 1900. Both were buried in 
Hickory (irove cemetery, in Jackson town- 
ship. Mr. Brown was a great reader and 



a wide student, being unusually well versed 
on all the ciuestions of the day. He was a 
stanch Republican, luu never sought official 
position. All his life he advocated good 
schools, and made his watchword their im- 
provement. After his marriage he located 
(in his father's farm in Montrose township, 
where he spent his subsequent life with the 
exception of a few years before his death 
when he removed to a farm he owned near 
Warsaw. Here his wife died, while his 
death occurred at the home of his daughter, 
Mrs. Frederick \\". Smith, wlien he was 
making them a visit. 

Mr. and Mrs. John J. Brown were the 
parents of the following children : Roy, of 
Lake Charles, Louisiana: Ir\in J., a grocer 
at Salem, Iowa; Sarah, who is Mrs. Smith; 
■prior, a merchant in Summitville. Iowa; 
Horatio S., who is engaged in the same 
business at the same place; Amelia M., the 
wife of Albert Miller, a resident of Mont- 
rose township. 

Mr. Smith is a member of the Independ- 
ent Order of Odd Fellows at Farmington, 
and the Anti-Horse Thief Association, 
which organization he at one time repre- 
sented at a state meeting in Des Moines. In 
political matters he is a Republican, and for 
some years served as a school director. He 
was elected as justice of the peace, antl also 
as town clerk. Init nex'er saw fit to qualify 
for either position. Mr. and Mrs. Brown 
are the i)arents of a familv of six children : 
Lizzie H., Willma A., John P., Alta Af, 
Clyde V. and Daisy B. He is a man of fine 
education, broad views, and exercises a 
large influe?ice for good wherever he is 
known. He belongs to an excellent family. 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



299 



and well sustains an old and honored name. 
He is a worthy citizen, and the pen of the 
historian finds in him. his career and family 
relations and associations a congenial theme. 
In Lee county, where so much of his active 
life has passed, he has a host of friends who 
will he triad to read of him and his. 



THE NEWBERRY FAMILY. 

The Xewherrv family, which is one of 
a few families which trace their genealogy 
back to the pioneers of Des Ah^ines town- 
ship. I,ee county, was founded by ancestors 
of sound principles and sterling worth, per- 
sons who were mentally, morally, physically 
and spiritualh- superior — abo\'e the average. 
The traits of tlie progenitors of this family 
are largely reproduced by their descendants, 
who are now among the leading citizens of 
the township. 

James A. X'ewberry, the ancestor of all 
the famiij- now here, was born in Vermont, 
and when a young man removed to Orange 
county. New York, where he was united in 
marriage to Miss Alary Smith, who was 
l)orn and reared in that state. 

In 1821. James A. Newberry, with his 
wife and family, then consisting of four 
children, moved from Orange county to 
'make his home in Pennsylvania. Later on 
in life he moved again and settled in Lorain 
count V, Ohio, where he resided some years. 
Then, impelled by the spirit of unrest and 
ambition that sent so many of the boldest and 



the best from the East, they continued their 
way towards the setting sun, and located 
in Clay county. Missouri, on a tract of new 
and unimproved land. Two years later they 
made another removal, and took up a piece 
of raw land for a farm in Caldwell county. 
Here they resided for a short time, and then 
removed to the \'icinity of Nauvoo. Illinois, 
and in 1838 they came to Des Moines town- 
ship. Lee county. Here the sons secured 
land under pre-emption laws, but the father, 
well-advanced in years and having a com- 
petence, never became a landholder in Lee 
county. 

James A. and Mary (Smith) Newbeny 
were the parents of a numerous family: 
Jane, the oldest child, married Jacob Cran- 
dall and became herself the mother of eight 
children. — they lived in Panama, Shelby 
county, Iowa: she was ninety years old in 
Ma\', 1904: John married Lucinda Williams, 
— they l)ecame the parents of four children, 
of whom three bore arms in the Civil War. 
He was for many years engaged in mining 
in Galena, Illinois, and died in 1856, at the 
age of fifty-six years, having never enjoyed 
robust health. Abraham B., the third child; 
James W. was the fourth child, and his 
sketch appears on another page of this 
record. Electa married (Jeorge Wixam. 
She went to California at an early da\' and 
was there married, her husband lieing a man 
of ami)le means. Sallie .\nn married James 
Pendleton and removed with him to LHah 
before the Ci\il W;ir. 'V\\ti\ now' live in 
Paraw.in. Iron county, in that state. Har- 
riet married Seth Palmer and died in Mont- 
rose, where her remains now rest. She had 
no children. Mariah married George Mor- 



300 



ris. a stonemason. They went to Utah be- 
fore the Civil ^Var, and have reared a large 
family of children. She died about 1898. 
Esther married Edward Beebe, at Montrose, 
and went to California, where they were 
greatly prospered, becoming the owners of 
a large fruit farm. They were the parents 
of several children, and both are now dead. 
Pattie married George Hiatt, and lives in 
Parawan, Utah. They and the Pendletons 
made the journey to that distant country in 
company. Mrs. James A. Newberry died 
in 1842, at the early age of forty-six. 

Mr. Newberry contracted a second mar- 
riage two years later, when Elizabeth Ras- 
kins, of Des Moines township, became his 
wife. She bore him four children: Alma 
M.. a son who died March 12, 1904. in De- 
catur county, Iowa, leaving seven children; 
Joseph and Eber li\e in Mills county, Iowa; 
Joanna married Ilenry Winniger and lives 
in Missouri. Mrs. Elizabeth Newberry died 
in Mills county about 1858. James A. 
Newberry, while in this county, resided with 
his children until his second marriage. In 
1883, at the venerable age of ninety years, 
he passed to his rest, having led a long and 
useful life. He was truly a pioneer and 
lo\'ed the freedom of a new country, where 
all had room and comfort. 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 

ton township, Lee county. June 25, 1849, 



CHRISTIAN TRUMP. 



Christian Trump, who is one of the 
leading real estate owners and liverymen 
of Fort Madison, Iowa, was born in Charles- 



and is the son of George and Katherine 
(Seyb) Trump. The father and mother 
were both natives of Germany, but were 
married in America, buying and locating on 
a farm in Charleston township, where they 
spent the remainder of their lives. The 
father's death occurred about 188?, and that 
of the mother in 1903, they being survived 
liy nine children. They were early mem- 
bers of the Lutheran church, and were ever 
faithful to its teachings. 

Christian Trump received his education 
in the schools of Charleston township, and 
assisted his father in the duties of the farm 
until his seventeenth year, when he began 
his Imsiness life by buying and shipping 
stock. In this he was so successful that he 
soon had sufficient capital to enable him to 
engage in mercantile business, and he be- 
gan the conduct of a general store at Frank- 
lin Station. Here he continued for several 
years, but finally sold his interest to his part- 
ner, Mr. Best, and devoted all his time to 
dealing in live stock. 

In 1883 Mr. Trump married Katherine 
Lang, of Franklin township, a daughter of 
Frederick Lang, who is one of the pioneers 
of the county and at the present time a 
general merchant at Franklin Center. For 
a vear thereafter they made their home at 
Franklin. For several years ]\Ir. Trump 
had been very acti\e in Republican politics, 
and at this time he was appointed to the 
office of deputy sheriff, in which capacity' 
he served for two years during Colonel 
Root's term as sheriff. At the same time 
he established himself in the livery business 
in Fort Madison, and continued dealing in 
horses, as well as contracting for grading 




CHRISI'IAN IkUMP 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



303 



and heavy hauling, tiding much work for the 
city, and building up his contracting busi- 
ness to large proportions. His many and 
successful enterprises brought him into con- 
tact .with a large number of people, and 
\vhei-e\er he went he made friends. A thing 
that shows his wide acquaintance and his 
standing in the community is the fact that 
he was elected to the ofifice of sheriff of Lee 
county for two terms at a time when the 
party of which he was a member was in a 
normal minority of ime thousand votes, and 
that in his first election he received the as- 
tounding majority of 293 and for his sec- 
ond term 297 votes. He filled his office ac- 
ceptably, and retired with increased reputa- 
tion. 

During his term of office he continued 
his livery and horse business. The first 
building erected by '\\r. Trump in Fort 
Madison was a livery barn on Locust street, 
and later he erected a fine business block, 
known as the Trump Block, at the corner 
of Locust and Front streets. He then con- 
verted his frame barn into a brick structure, 
with stone front and cement floor, facing 
south on Front street. This barn, in di- 
mensions 50.x 1 50 feet, is the best in the city. 
.Another large stone and brick barn, two 
stories in height, and now occupierl as a 
feed and sale barn, stands at another cor- 
ner of Locust and Front streets as a moiui- 
ment to the public spirit of Mr. Trump. 
He now confines his activities to the livery 
and sale business, shipping constantly large 
numbers of horses to all parts of the United 
State.s. Father died in [884. 

Mr. Trump's only fraternal connection 
is with the Independent Order of Odd Fel- 



lows, of which he has been a member for 
several years. 

To INlr. and Mrs. Truni]) ha\e been born 
two sons, Richard R., who has now com- 
pleted his educaticjn at Flliott's Business 
College, at Burlington, Iowa, and Raymond 
F., who is at home. On .\ugust 16, 1892, 
the family sustained its greatest sorrow in 
the death of the wife anrl mother, blather 
and sons are members of the Evangelical 
Lutheran church. To ]\lr. Trump alone be- 
longs the credit for what he has achieved. 
Starting empty-handed in life for himself, 
he has w on his way to his' present high posi- 
tion in the world by his own ability, energy 
and merit. 



HOWARD M. DEWEY. 

Howard ]\L Dewey is a farmer, and has 
his home in Sawyer, \^^^shington township, 
where he was born January 23, 1852. His 
entire life has been passed in Lee county, 
with the exception of Ijrief periods, mention 
of which will appear farther on in this 
sketch, and here he has achieved an enviable 
standing both as a man and a follower of 
the noble profession of agriculture. By in- 
dustry and perseverance, joined to a close 
study of his calling, and an anxiety to pro- 
duce the best results to his unflagging labors, 
he has won a commendable measure of suc- 
cess, and though not yet passed the prime 
of life takes higli rank among the leading 
citizens of his community. 

Mr. Dewey is a son of George Howland 



304 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



and Cliliie ( Butler) Dewey. The father 
was torn in Leroy, Berkshire county, Mas- 
sachusetts, in iSiTi. and was a son of Asaph 
Dewey. He came to Iowa in 183S, and ef- 
fected a location on section 18, Washington 
township. He attended the first land sale 
in Burlington, to which he walked from his 
home, and there he hought a quarter section 
at $1.25 an acre. He made some improve- 
ments on his land, hut after a year had 
elapsed returned to Massachusetts, where he 
was married in 1839 to Miss Chloe B. But- 
ler, a nati\-e of Pittsfield, in that state. The 
young couple made their way immediately 
to their western home, and there passed 
many honorahle and useful years. They 
were both members of the Congregational 
church, and were highly respected for their 
many excellent qualities of heart and mind. 
Politically he Avas for many years associated 
with the Republican party, but in his latter 
years became somewhat prominently identi- 
fied with the Prohibition movement. He 
long .served as justice of the peace, and was 
at different, times assessor of the township. 
Mr. and Mrs. George H. Dewey were 
the parents of a family of ten children, of 
whom brief mention may be made : George 
H., Jr., born February 7, 1841, enlisted as 
a private in the Nineteenth Iowa Volunteer 
Infantry in 1863, died in 1871 ; Eunice S., 
born December 8, 1842, married X. F. But- 
ler, and died in 1891 ; Asaph C, born April 
8, 1844, was a soldier in the Civil War, 
being a member of the Xineteenth Iowa 
Volunteer Infantr}', and is now living in 
Stone county, .Arkansas. His wife, Mary 
Riggs, is dead: Sarah E., Mrs. William .\. 
Tade, a resident of Van Buren countv, Iowa, 



was born April 10, 1845, she died in ]March, 
1 88 1, her husband served as a captain in a 
colored regiment during the Ci\il War; 
James B., born Xovember 29. 1846. died 
when only eight months old; Xancy W., 
Inirn February 4, 1848, after the death of 
her sister, became the second wife of Wil- 
liam .V. Tade; Kate M., born August 11. 
1850. married John Tade, lived in N^e- 
braska, and is now dead; Howard M., whose 
name appears at the opening of this article ; 
Siar Butler, born July 2, 1853. in Wash- 
ington township, always made his home on 
the paternal estate, which he carded on in 
1876. in company with his two brothers, 
Howard M. and Frank. He had a good 
common-school education, and was a man 
of more than ordinary gifts. On the 14th 
day of February, 1883, he was married to 
Aliss Olga J. Kirk, a native of Pennsylvania, 
and a niece of Prof. Edson, who was for 
many years the head of Denmark Academy, 
and later a professor in Grinnell College. 
They had a family of six children : Charlotte 
C, Ethel B.. Grace H., Ruth E.. Kirk M. 
and Alice Irene. In pditics he is a Re- 
])ulilican. and in religion a member of the 
Denmark Congregational church, of which 
he has long been a deacon. He is the 
owner of forty acres of land in W^est Point 
township, and has in his home farm 190 
acres. His specialty is I'olled Angus cattle, 
in the breeding of which he enjoys more 
than a local reputation. 

Frank M.. bom April 22. 1855, has his 
home in Cahoka, Missouri. George H. 
Dewev died in 1891. and his widow. June 
8. 1894. .After 1876 he lived a retired life. 

Howard AI. Dewey, whose name ap- 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



305 



pears at the heat! nf this hins^Taphical sketch, 
received a CDiiimun-schnol education and 
hved at home until his marriage, February 
14, 1881, to !NJiss h'lora M. Sawyer. She 
was a daughter of Francis and Lucy (Bax- 
ter) Sawyer, and a lady of more than the 
usual character and attainments. Her father 
was horn in Rindge. Cheshire county, X^ew 
Hampshire, in 1815, and when he was eleven 
years old was taken by his parents to New 
Ipswicli, where he was gi\-en a good e(ki- 
cation. In 1838, in ccjmpany with his 
Ijrother. he left home for the W'est, making 
the journey in a one-horse buggy. F^rom 
Albany to Buffalo they availed themselves 
of the canal, then a popular route, .\fter 
being on t'ne road six weeks they reached 
Lee county, and made claim to the land on 
which the son-in-law. ^Ir. Dewey, now lives. 
Here he erected a cabin, and here he passed 
his remaining years. In 1840 he went back 
to his native state to marry Miss Lucy Bax- 
ter. She was born at Xew Ipswich. New 
Hampshire, December 7, 1816. She died 
in 1843. Three years later ]\Ir. Sawyer 
married Miss Abbie Flolt. who was born in 
Andover, Massachusetts, in I-"ebruar>', 1828. 
She died May 27, 189S, leaving four chil- 
dren : Henry B., born January 30, 1849, '* 
now deceased: Alfred, born in 1850, is also 
deceased; Perle\' I'"., born in 185C), ilicd in 
1871 : l-dora M.. now Mrs. Dewey; Herbert, 
born in i860, died in 1869. Mr. Sawyer be- 
came the husband of Miss Lucy Baxter in 
October, 1865. She was born in Xew 
Ipswich in i8jt, and died May 27. 1898. 
Mr. Sawyer died September 11, 1897. He 
was a member of the Congregational church 
in which he had long serveil as a deacon. 



In farming he was \ery successful, and was 
known as a man of fine character and un- 
usual merit. 

-Mr. and Mrs. Howard M. Dewey arc 
the parents of three children : Perley Fran- 
cis, born .Vjjril 6, 1885; .\rtluu- Howard, 
born October 7, 1890. and Daisy Helen, born 
October 25, 1893. The children are bright 
and gifted, and would do credit to anv home. 

Mr. Dewey is a very successful farmer 
and owns a fine farm of 250 acres, to which 
be has gi\en the name of "Long Field 
Farm." While he is .--killed as a general 
farmer, he makes a specialty of Polled An- 
gus cattle, and is widely and favorably 
known as a stockraiser. In addition to his 
home farm he has a fortv-acre tract of tim- 
ber land in the township of West Point. 
Mr. Dewey is a member of the Congrega- 
tional church, and was the first postmaster 
at Sawyer. Personally he is a man of ir- 
reproachable character and genial ways, and 
enjoys the respect and confidence of the com- 
munitv in which he lives to a verv unusual 



MONTGOMERY MEIGS. 

Among the more widelv known residents 
of Keokuk, Iowa, is Montgomery Meigs, 
who has been in the service of the federal 
government since 1874 and is at the pres- 
ent time occui)ying the [position of United 
States ci\i! engineer, superintendent of the 
Des Moines Rajjids canal and locks and su- 
perintendent of the Mississippi river im- 



3o6 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



provements between Burlington, Iowa, and 
Hannibal, Missouri. He is of English an- 
cestn', and is the son of Gen. M. C. ^leigs, 
who was for a number of years quarter- 
master-general of the United States army, 
a position attained by simple force of merit 
and in recognition of distinguished services 
as a member of the engineering corps of 
the army, in which he liad risen to high 
rank. General Meigs, who was a native of 
Pennsylvania, was a man of great talents 
and executive ability, and erected many pub- 
lic works which stand as a monument to his 
skill as an engineer, among these ijeing the 
aqueduct in the City of Washington and 
the famous "Cabin John" arch, the largest 
structure of its kind on the globe. He oc- 
cupied a high place among the leading public 
men of his time, enjoying a reputation of in- 
ternational scope, and although he never 
sought to stand in the limelight of publicity, 
his name is an important one in the history 
of his country. 

Montgomeiy Meigs was born in the year 
1847 in Detroit, Michigan, and passed the 
years of his boyhood and youth in the City 
of Washington, and there in tlie shadow of 
the national capital he grew to years of ma- 
turity in an atmosphere of large events and 
the society of many great and celebrated men 
of the time, meanwhile securing the founda- 
tion of his education in private schools of 
that city. Having determined, however, to 
attain to a high plane of usefulness and dis- 
tinction in his father's profession, which 
he had also chosen for his own, he pursued 
further courses of study along special lines 
in the scientific department of Harvard Uni- 
A-ergitv and in the Roval Polvtechnich School 



at Stuttgart, Germany, from which latter in- 
stitution he was graduated in 1869. Having 
thus acquired a magnificent training in the 
theoretical branch of his profession, he be- 
gan his acquaintance with its practical side 
by starting at the lowest round of the ladder 
and gaining familiarity with its every phase 
by actual experience. The Northern Pacific 
Railroad was then in course of construction, 
and he first acted as rodman in a party en- 
gaged in surveying the route of that great 
transcontinental highway, later, becoming 
assistant' engineer and finally resident en- 
gineer, and also taking and executing the 
contract for building a fifty-mile section of 
the road, terminating at Bismarck, in what 
is now the State of South Dakota. His 
whole connection with the building of the 
Xorthern Pacific road, including the pre- 
liminary survey and construction, lasted 
four years, a period which he now considers 
the most fruitful of useful experience in his 
entire career, and certain!}- he had cause to 
feel much satisfaction for his rapid rise 
to a position of trust and profit. 

In 1875 ]\Ir. Meigs accompanied the 
quartermaster-general, his father, as his sec- 
retar}- on a military mission to Europe, and 
in 1877 he was appointed United States 
civil engineer, stationed at Rock Island. Il- 
linois, to conduct the inipro\ements designed 
to aid navigation on the Mississippi river. 
He made an especial survey of the upper 
course of the river, and superintended the 
execution of innumerable improvements 
throughout its entire navigable length, 
namely from St. Paul to the Gulf of Mexico, 
thus performing a service to mankind which 
must rank as one of the notable achievements 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



307 



of his generation, it being due to his efforts 
more than to those of any other man that 
the present concHtion of this greatest of 
the world's waterways is due. Following 
the successful conclusion of this great en- 
terprise he was assigned, in 1882, to the su- 
perintendency of the Des Moines Rapids 
canal, which had been opened in 1877, and 
of the ri\er improvements which he had 
established between Burlington and Hanni- 
bal, a position whose duties he has since 
continuously discharged in a highly merito- 
rious and efificient manner, and it may be 
safely said that no section of the river has 
recei\'ed more conscientious and painstaking 
care than that intrusted to his charge, or 
that nowhere have the improvements been 
more perfectly maintained. When he as- 
sumed charge of the canal it was only par- 
tialh' tinished, and he at once took stejis for 
its completion along the most approved lines, 
building a dry dock at the middle lock, rais- 
ing the walls of the two lower locks, con- 
structing solid masonry sluices for the dis- 
charge of flood water into the river from 
the canal, building the boom at the lower 
lock, and, in a word, bringing the work to 
that state of perfection which has excited 
the admiration of all who have been privi- 
leged to inspect it. In connection with this 
work Mr. Meigs has built more than half 
a hundred barges for the government 
service, as well as two drill boats, three pile 
drivers and four building boats, and has 
built and nametl a Heet of twelve ri\er steam- 
ers, as follows : "The Lucia," "Iris," "Ada," 
"Irene," "Pearl," "Marion," "Stella." "Lou- 
ise," "Emily," "Ruth," "Fox" and "Grace." 
At Rock Island, Illinois, in 1877, Mr. 



Meigs was uniteil in marriage to Miss Grace 
L}iide, daughter of ("ornelius Lynde. a lead- 
ing Ijanker and prominent citizen of that 
place, and during her residence in Keokuk 
Mrs. ^leig's many graces of character won 
for her a host of friends. She died Sep- 
tember 2. 1894. survived by six daughters, 
as follows: Mary, wife of Maxwell W. 
.\twater, of Baker City, Oregon; Louise, 
wife of Meh'in Green, of Winchester, Vir- 
ginia, and Misses Grace S., Alice McK., Cor- 
nelia L. aufl Emily F. The daughters of the 
famil}- have all had the advantages of ex- 
cellent training and education, and those of 
their number who remain residents of Keo- 
kuk adorn the most desiraljle social circles 
of the city. The present family home, 
which has been its place of abode contin- 
uousl}- for twenty-five years, is what is 
known as tlie Judge McCreary homestead, 
at Xo. 618 Franklin street. 

Mr. Meigs has borne a prominent part 
in the affairs of his adopted City of Keokuk, 
l;eing at the present time a member and 
chairman of the Board of Education, a 
member of the Buildings and Improvements 
Committe and vice-president of the Keokuk 
Water Commission, a body whose labors 
ha\-e solved in a highly satisfactory manner 
the \exed ])roblem of the city's water sup- 
])ly. Socially, he is a member of the Keo- 
kuk Country Club, and along the line of 
his professional work he is affiliated with 
the American Society of Civil Engineers 
.and the American Society for the Advance- 
ment of Science. One important public 
ser\ice performed by Air. Meigs, and one 
which has brought him a large ineasure of 
fame thnuighout the United States, was his 



3o8 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



proposal before tlie Good Roads Convention, 
at St. Louis, to which he was appointed the 
member for Keokuk Iw Judge F. T. Hughes, 
then mayor, to apply crude petroleum to the 
roads as a dust preventative, and in order to 
render ungraveled roads passable in all 
weathers. The idea was at once \\idely 
adopted, especially in tlie Western States, 
and is rapidly growing in favor, being found 
highly practicable and useful, and in all re- 
spects is fulfilling the claims of its orig-. 
inator, who is certainly entitled to the uni- 
versal gratitude of this eminently utilita- 
rian discovery. Thus it is manifest that the 
life of our subject has Ijeen one long period 
of service to his fellowmen, and while his 
business ability has enabled him to acquire 
a sufificient store of worldy goods, his chief 
riches consist of an honorable, upright and 
useful career, a possession which no accident 
of fortune can ever destroy or take away. 



C. F. WAHRER, M. D. 

Dr. C. F. ^^^al^rer, of Fort Madison, 
physician and surgeon, has through his writ- 
ings along professional lines become known 
to the medical fraternity throughout the 
countr\' and through his eflforts for the dif- 
fusion of medical knowledge and for the 
promotion of general education to the public 
at large. 

A nati\'e of Baden, Germany, he was 
born July 19, 1850, and when three years 
of age was brought to the United States by 



his parents, who settled at Keokuk, Iowa, 
where the next eight years of his life were 
passed. He began his education in the pub- 
lic schools of that city, and following the 
removal of the family to Charleston, Lee 
county, he continued a public-school student 
there. He spent his early life upon his fa- 
ther's farm and after teaching in various dis- 
trict schools entered Whittier College, at 
Salem, Iowa, from wliich institution he was 
graduated. Immediately afterward he was 
elected professor of mathematics and filled 
that position, alternating with that of 
professor of natural sciences for a pe- 
riod of six years. He then became 
principal of the Salem public schools, 
and during the years thus spent he 
took up the study of medicine, pursuing his • 
reading under some of the prominent phy- 
sicians of that city. He afterward matricu- 
lated in the Medical College of Keokuk, and 
completed his course by graduation with 
the class of 1887. He immediately entered 
upon the practice of his profession at Mount 
Hamill, Lee county, Iowa, where he con- 
tinued until 1893. when he removed to Fort 
Madison, where he has since engaged in gen- 
eral practice. During the latter years of his 
residence in Mount Hamill and until 1893 
he was professor, of pathology at the Col- 
lege of Physicians and Surgeons, of Keokuk, 
Iowa, and then resigned his position. In' 
the years 1898 and 1899 he was persuaded 
to accept the professorship of therapeutics 
and at the close of the session he was ten- 
dered the cliair of medicine, but resigned in 
order to devote his entire attention to his 
private practice, now grown to extensive 
proportions, making heavy demands upon 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



309 



his time and energies. He is a member of 
nearly ail tlie prominent medical societies, 
including the Lee County Medical Society ; 
the Southeastern Iowa Medical Society, of 
which he was president in 1902; the Iowa 
State Medical Society, of which he was vice- 
president in 1902. and also chairman of its 
various sections at different times — positions 
of distinctive honor. He has also been a 
trustee of this society for a number of years. 
He holds membership in the American Med- 
ical Association, in which he has held vari- 
ous positions of trust, the last being that of 
secretary of the section of the diseases of 
children. He has also been elected a mem- 
ber of the American Association for the Ad- 
vancement of Science. In connection with 
his identification with these organizations he 
has traveled extensively throughout the 
United States and because of this and his 
writings on professional topics, there are 
few better known members of the medical 
profession, not only in his own state, but 
also throughout the United States. He is 
the author of many medical monographs, 
which he expects to publish in connection 
with other medical works. 

Aside from his labors in connection with 
the science of medicine he has been inter- 
ested in the advancement of musical and 
literary associations and has frequently de- 
livered addresses upon medical, literary and 
moral topics and has identified himself with 
general educational matters. 

Dr. Wahrer has been a lifelong Repub- 
lican, but has never sought ofiice. He is a 
member of the Presbyterian church and also 
belongs to the Independent Order of Odd 
Fellows and the Masonic fraternity, having 



in tile latter attained the KnigJits Templar 
degree. He is also a memlier of Kaba Tem- 
ple of the Mystic Shrine, at Davenport, 
Iowa. 

Dr. Wahrer was married, July 11, 1876, 
near Richland, Iowa, to Miss Sara Mc- 
Cracken, who was born near Pleasant Plain, 
Iowa, and resided there during her girlhood. 
She acquired her education in Whittier Col- 
lege, in Salem, Iowa, and afterward became 
a teacher of history in that institution. 
\\ liile there she formed the acquaintance of 
Dr. Wahrer. Her parents were Hiram and 
Dinah (Hadley) McCracken, of Fairfield, 
Iowa. Dr. and Mrs. Wahrer had four chil- 
dren : Evelyn, who was born at Salem, 
Iowa, and pursued her earl}- education in 
the public schools of Fort Madison, after- 
ward attended Knox College, at Galesburg, 
Illinois, and the State Normal School, of 
Iowa. She is an accomplished scholar now 
occupying a position as one of the teachers 
in the high school of Fort Madison. She 
is also much interested in music. Carl W. 
Wahrer. born at Salem, Iowa, graduated 
from Rush Medical College, and after com- 
pleting a two years' post-graduate course, 
became associated in the practice of his pro- 
fession with his father. Dr. C. F. Wahrer. 
Within the last three years he has also illus- 
trated a nuni])cr nf medical works, .some of 
them being published by the press of Co- 
blentz. Germany. August H. Wahrer. born 
in Salem, Iowa, died at the age of twelve 
years, and was buried at Fort Madison, 
Iowa: k'rederick L. Wahrer, born at Mount 
Ilamill. Iowa, was educated in the high 
school of Fort Madi.son. 

It will be interesting in this connection 



3IO 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



to note something of the family to which Dr. 
Wahrer belongs. He is one of the nine chil- 
dren, five of whom are living, born imto Au- 
gust and Rosina (Fiedler) Wahrer. The 
father was born in Baden, Germany, August 
i8, 1825, became a furrier and followed that 
occupation until his removal to the United 
States in 1852. He located at Keokuk, Iowa, 
and there followed his trade and also en- 
gaged in merchant tailoring, in which he 
continued until 1861, when he removed to 
Charleston, Iowa, where he carried on farm- 
ing until his death, which occurred when he 
was seventy-six years of age. He was a 
fairly prosperous and successful man and 
was interested not alone in business, but also 
in church and educational affairs, being an 
active member of the Evangelical church. 
His wife died about five years prior to his 
demise, passing away at the age of sixty- 
seven years. 



J. H. COULTER, M. D. 

Dr. Coulter, who is a well-known figure 
on the streets of Summitville, Lee county, is 
an honored member of a noble calling, and 
well sustains the best traditions of his pro- 
fession. It is a calling that demands the 
best in human nature, and confers its rich- 
est rew;irds nnlv on those who take its vows 
of consecration, and live as brothers to all 
the world of the suffering and needy. It is 
the work of the physician to help and cheer. 
It is his to put courage into hearts that fal- 



ter and faint, and strength into bodies weak 
and feeble. His shadow upon the threshold 
of pain should be a benediction upon the 
fevered brow of sickness, and in his touch a 
healing. Such men are very close to the 
heart of the race : and when they are once 
discovered, are revered and loved. The 
Summitville physician is a man after the 
best ideals of his profession, studious and 
learned, deeply versed in medical lore, but 
modest and unassuming, he is respected and 
esteemed wherever he is known. 

Dr. Coulter was born in Adams county, 
Illinois, January i, 1856, a son of Josiah and 
Mary J. (Dunlap) Coulter, natives respect- 
ively of Pennsylvania and Virginia. They 
were farmer people, the father died in Ne- 
braska, whither they had gone in 1886 to 
settle on a ranch for stockraising, which 
thev proposed to make their final home. The 
mother resides in Denver, Colorado. To 
them were born six children of whom the 
subject of this sketch was the oldest. The 
others were Emma, wife of A. J. Dunham, 
of Mi.ssouri : Mary, wife of Henr\' Vance; 
Samuel H. ; Wilber, and Warren, both Ne- 
braska stockmen, and Charles. 

Dr, Coulter seaired his education in the 
common schools and in his earlier life was 
engaged in farming near Tarkio, ^Missouri. 
From Nodaway county, in that state, he en- 
tered the College of Physicians and Sur- 
geons at Keokuk, in 1887. In 1890 he was 
graduated from that justly celebrated insti- 
tution, and immediately efifected a location 
in Summitville, Lee county, where his high 
character and manifest ability commanded 
quick recognition and a profitable practice. 
For some nine \ears he has been county 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



311 



physician and also local physician for the 
local branch of the Du Pont Powder Mills. 
He is local examiner for the more noted life 
insurance companies, such as the Equitable, 
and the Mutual Life, of New York, the New 
York Life, the Pennsylvania and several fra- 
ternal associations as well, being an active 
member and local examiner for the Modern 
\\'oodmen of America. He is associated in 
the various medical societies of the day, and 
is a member of- the American Medical Asso- 
ciation, the Tri-State Association, the State 
Association, the Des Moines Valley Associa- 
tion, and the Lee County Medical Society. 
He takes much interest in the workings of 
these various organizations, but is especially 
active in the Tri-State Association and the 
Lee County Society. The doctor is a mem- 
ber of the Morning Star Lodge, No. 5, 
Knights of Pythias, at Keokuk, and of Sum- 
mitville Camp, No. 4594, Modern Woodmen 
of America. 

Dr. Coulter was married in 188 1 to Miss 
Myra Dunham, who was liorn in Williams- 
burg, Indiana, in 1853. They were married 
in Alaryville. Missouri. To them two daugh- 
ters were born, Elsie and Nellie. Her father, 
Jerry Dunham, is dead, but her mother, 
Mary (Allen) Dunham, is still living. 

Dr. Coulter has a very handsome and 
attractive home at Sumniitville. It com- 
prises twenty-one acres, and on it are found 
2,500 fruit trees. Here he has his office, and 
takes much delight in his leisure moments 
in superintending the improvements of his 
place, which is still continuing. All improve- 
ments have been made by him, and he is 
known as a public-spirited and wide-awake 
citizen, ready to make beautiful the com- 
munity in which he lives. 

19 



The Doctor had to work his way through 
medical college, and his was no easy road 
to learning. He had saved some money in 
Missouri, but when he went to Nebraska 
with large plans he lost it all. In religion 
he is a memlier and a deacon in the Chris- 
tian cliurch. and his faniil)- are workers in 
the Sunday school. He was active in the 
building of the Simimitville church, being 
on the building committee, and is now serv- 
ing on the board of trustees of that organiza- 
tion. He is an occasional contributor to 
the medical journals. Politically he is a Re- 
publican. 

The fact that Dr. Coulter is the only 
physician in Summitville is not as some 
might imagine a warrant of ease to him, 
but rather a call to constant study and close 
application to his profession, that he might 
keep abreast of its rapid development and be 
ready for all occasions. He has had to go 
through much trial and adversity in order 
to win his present prominence in his chosen 
calling, and only what has put him forward 
will sustain him. So he studies, and works, 
and gi\-es his best to his great profession, 
which in turn is giving him honor and rep- 
utation as a healer of men and a doer of 
eood in the world. 



OSCAR 0. TRACY. 



The present age belongs pre-eminently 
to the young man, and he has shown his ap- 
preciation of the fact by the capable man- 
ner in which he has availed himself of its 



;i2 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



opportunities for advancement in all lines 
of endeavor. One of Keokuk's younger men 
who has manifested the possession of valu- 
able qualities of aggressiveness, self-reliance 
and fidelity to duty in all matters intrusted 
to his charge, is Oscar O. Tracy, manager 
for the Western Union Telegraph Com- 
pany. Mr. Tracy was born near Brighton, 
Iowa, August 14, 1871, the son of ^Mark 
Albert and Martha (Ohmart) Tracy, his 
father being by occupation a farmer and re- 
moving to Brighton from near Barnesville, 
and later, in 1872, to Pleasant Plain. Iowa; 
but in 1875 he came to Keokuk and was a 
resident of this city for a number of years, 
while at the present time he is located at 
Des Moines, and is employed in the car de- 
partment of the Chicago, Rock Island & 
Pacific Railroad Company. The mother of 
our subject is the daughter of Christian 
Ohmart, and of Scotch-Irish extraction. She 
died at Brighton in 1872. Both are still 
remembered in Brighton as being people of 
sterling character, and they had many 
friends there who valued them for their 
kindly dispositions and sincerity of manner. 
To them were born one son, Oscar O., and 
one daughter, Amelia Belle, who is now the 
wife of Henry E. Schmidt, with the Keokuk 
drug firm of ^^'ilkinson & Company. 

Oscar O. Tracy removed to Keokuk with 
his parents in 1875, and has resided in this 
city continuously since that time. He re- 
ceived a good education in the common 
schools,. and on the completion of his studies 
became a messenger in the service of the 
Western Union Telegraph Company, and 
while acting in this capacity he took advan- 
tage of his opportunities to familiarize him- 



self with the art of telegraphy, in which he 
soon became expert and was promoted to the 
position of regular operator. His work hav- 
ing attracted the attention of his superiors, 
V he was three years ago made local manager 
for the company, and in the conduct of this 
office he has displayed executive ability of 
an unusual order, a quality which, while ad- 
vancing him in the favor of the public and 
proving of material benefit to the interests 
of the company which he represents, will 
doubtless be the means of his attaining still 
higher honors in future. In 1894 he wedded 
^liss May Antrim, who was born at Dan- 
ville, Pennsylvania, the daughter of Wil- 
liam and Hannah (Hammond) Antrim, 
both of Pennsylvania birth, and to ]Mr. and 
Mrs. Tracy has been born one daughter, 
Martha. 

Mr. Tracy is well known in the fraternal 
circles of Keokuk, being a member of the 
Masonic order in Hardin Lodge, No. 29, 
and also of Keokuk Lodge, No. 13, of the 
Independent Order of Odd Fellows, in which 
he has held official positions and has been 
a prominent worker. In all matters of pub- 
lic concern he has taken a constant inter- 
est, and has given special study to politics, 
but has never formed any partisan connec- 
tion, preferring to act with that increasingly 
important body of voters known as "inde- 
pendents," and believing that the best re- 
sults may be obtained by deciding each ques- 
tion of public policy on its individual merits 
and not according to partisan bias. His 
religious connection is with the Methodist 
Episcopal church, of which he and Mrs. 
Tracv are members, and he is a liberal sup- 
porter of its work and a contributor to its 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



313 



various charities. He is a }-oiing man who is 
much esteemed in the business world of Keo- 
kuk, and enjoys the respect of many friends 
who have watclied his upward course with 
interest. 



STEPHEN H. KOTTENSTETTE. 

Stephen H. Kottenstette, now deceased, 
was born at Fort Madison, Iowa, on the 
i8th of February, 1867, his parents being 
Peter and Theresa (Beine) Kottenstette. 
The fatlicr was born in Germany and in 
1849 came to the United States, lo- 
cating first at St. Louis, Missouri, 
where he remained until 1861. He 
there followed the cooper's trade, wdiich 
he had learned in liis native country. In 
the year mentioned he came to Fort Madi- 
son, Iowa, where he has since resided, be- 
ing now about sixty-five years of age. Here 
he ciintinued the work of coopering for a 
number of years and at this writing, in the 
fall of 1904, was employed in the S. & J. C. 
Atlee lumber yards. He is a member of 
the Catholic church, and in his political af- 
filiations is a Democrat. He married Ther- 
esa Beine, who was born in Germany, and 
was brought to the United States when 
aliout eight years of age. The family land- 
ed at New Orleans and when on the way up 
the Mississippi river to Fort Madison, the 
mother died as did one of the sisters of Mrs. 
Kottenstette. The voyage across the At- 
lantic had covered sixteen weeks and the 
trip uj) the river was also a very hard and 



tedious one, while its difficulties were height- 
ened by the sorrow induced by the death of 
the members of the family. Mr. Beine had 
to spend all the money which he had saved 
in order to bring his family to the United 
States and pay the expenses of the illness 
and burial of his wife and daughter. He was 
a shoemaker by trade, and after locating in 
Fort Madison, foilowed that pursuit for a 
long period, but about twenty years prior 
to his demise retired from active business 
cares. In the early days he suffered the 
hardships and trials incident to pioneer life, 
but as time passed by these gave way be- 
fore an advancing civilization and Mr. Beine 
prospered in his work. He lived to the ven- 
erable age of eighty-four years. Unto Peter 
and Theresa Kottenstette were born eleven 
children, nine of whom are yet living. 

Stephen H. Kottenstette acquired his 
early education in the Catholic schools of 
Fort Madison, and also attended Johnson's 
Business College. After leaving school he 
clerked in the grocery store owned by Joseph 
Helling for five years and then started in 
business for himself as a grocer at No. 1202 
Fourth street. At the time of his death he 
was in partnership with Frank Hermes as 
proprietor of a grocery store and he had 
succeeded in building up a large and lucra- 
tive business. Popular as a merchant, he 
enjoyed the full confidence of the business 
community and his success was due to his 
earnest desire to please his patrons, the ex- 
cellent line of goods which he carried and his 
straightforward dealing in all business 
transactions. 

On the 20th of November. 1892, Mr. 
Kottenstette was united in marriage at Fort 



314 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



Madison to Miss Mary Pieper, who was born 
in this city and is a daughter of Frank and 
Elizabeth (Jaeger) Pieper. who still reside 
here. Her father was born in Prussia, in 
1832. and there learned the carpenter's trade. 
In 1854 he started for America in company 
with his brother, William, now deceased. 
They took passage on the sailing vessel "Al- 
bert," which left the por^ of Bremen for 
\e\v Orleans and thence they proceeded up 
the Mississippi river to Fort Madison. There 
was no railroad here at that time and in fact 
the city was only a trading post. Mr. Pieper 
began work at the carpenter's trade and 
when the Atlee saw and lumber mill was 
established in 1855. he obtained work in 
connection with that industn,-. For forty- 
seven years he was connected with that busi- 
ness and during the last years was foreman 
in the machinery department. He lost three 
fingers from his left hand and the fourth 
finger from his right hand, while working at 
the saw. He is now retfred from active 
business life and his rest is well merited. 
As the years passed and his industry and 
economy brought him more capital he made 
judicious investment in property and now 
owns a valuable farm of 235 acres in Cedar 
township. He also owns a home at No. 1904 
Division street at the corner of Walker 
street, and he likewise has ten acres of farm 
land in Madison township. He also owns 
three tenement houses and four lots on block 
No. 8 in Fort Madison, Ijut his realty pos- 
sessions indicate that his has been a life of 
business activity and usefulness. He was 
married in 1857, in Fort Madison, to Miss 
Lizzie Jaeger, and they became the parents 
of ten children, of whom six are living: 



William, who operates his father's farm in 
Cedar township, and married Lizzie Kot- 
tenstette, by whom he has six children, four 
sons and two daughters, Mary, the widow 
of Stephen Kottenstette, of Fort Madison, 
and the mother of three children : Lizzie, the 
wife of Frank Schilte, of Fort !\Iadison, 
by whom she has five children; Anna, at 
home: Theresa, the wife of Frank Hermes, 
of Fort Madison ; and Kate, at home. The 
parents and family are communicants of the 
Sacred Heart Catholic churcli, and Mr. Pie- 
per belongs to the Old Settlers' Associa- 
tion. 

His daughter, Mrs. Kottenstette. ac- 
quired her education in the Catholic schools 
'of Fort Madison, and by her marriage be- 
came the mother of four children : Peter, 
who was born in Fort Madison, and is now 
eleven years of age; Frank, a youth of nine 
years ; Edward deceased : and Robert, four 
years of age. 

Mr. Kottenstette was a progressive 
young man, alert and enterprising in busi- 
ness and witli ready recognition of possi- 
bilities and opportunities. He won success 
and also an honored name and it seemed 
that his death was most untimely, for he 
was filling a creditable position in both busi- 
ness and social circles in Fort Madison. In 
1 89 1 he built the pleasant home now occu- 
pied bv his widow and there his death oc- 
curred on the 27th of ]\Iay. 1902. He was 
a Democrat in his political views and be- 
longed to Gate City Lodge, No. 288, An- 
cient Order United Workmen. Widely 
known and enjoying the full confidence and 
esteem of all with whom he had l>een asso- 
ciated the loss of Mr. Kottenstette was 



LEE COUNTY. IOWA. 



315 



deeply deplored by his many friends who 
still cherish his memory. Mrs. Kottenstette 
still occupies the home which was erected 
for her hy her husband and is rearing her 
children there. She. too, is well-known in 
Fort Mailison, and the hospitality of many 
of the best homes of the city is extended 
to her. 



THEODORE A. CRAIG. 

Theodore A. Craig, a member of the 
Keokuk bar and a leader in local political 
circles, was born in Lee county. June 13, 
1872, his parents being John H. and Alice 
(Read) Craig. His father coming to Keo- 
kuk aliout 1855, was one of the first prac- 
ticing attorneys of this city and was asso- 
ciated in his profession with General Noble. 
He was a Democrat and took an active in- 
terest in the work of the party, frequently 
delivering cam|)aign addresses in the county 
and state, although always refusing to be- 
come a candidate for office. He died in 
Kcnkuk in Seiitember. 1893, and is still sur- 
vived by his wife. The four children of the 
family are also living: Read, who resides 
in .\urora, Illinois; Bertha R., who is teach- 
ing histor\- in the Keokuk high school; 
Hugh 11., an attornc\- of this city, and Theo- 
dore A. 

Theodore A. Craig attended the common 
and high .schools of Keokuk, and afterward 
continued It's studies in Parson's College, of 
Fairfeld, Iowa. On the completion of his 
literary course he entered the law office of 
John E. Craig and following his preliminary 



reading, which ga\-e him a thorough knowl- 
edge of many of the principles of law, he 
was admitted to the bar on the i8th of Jan- 
uary. 1899, before the supreme court, at 
l)es Moines. 1 !e practiced alone for a year 
and then entered into partnership with John 
\\. Craig, this connection being continued 
from Jinic, 1900, until the ist of June, 1904, 
when he again l)egan business alone. His 
success along professional lines has been 
gratifying, and he now has a distinguished 
representative clientage. He presents his 
cause in a strong and forcible manner, dis- 
playing an excellent knowledge of the prin- 
ciples of jurisprudence and correct applica- 
tion of them to the points in litigation. For 
the past six years he has published annota- 
tions of the Iowa code, showing changes in 
the laws, sujiplying these to the attorneys of 
the state. Public spirited and interested in 
the great questions that concern the state 
and nation, he gives his political allegiance 
to the Democracy and served as Mayor of 
Keokuk from 1901 to 1903. He is a mem- 
ber of the Democratic Central Committe, 
and during campaigns delivers many ad- 
dresses in support of the party candidates. 
He has often l)een chairman of the county 
convention and has been an attendant upon 
state and national conventions. Fraternally 
he is connected with the Modern Wood- 
men of America, the .\ncient Order of 
United Woodmen and the Benevolent 
and Protective Order of Elks. Air. Craig 
was married in April, 1902, to Miss Jean 
Blood, of St. Louis, Missouri, and they have 
resided at No. 503 North Third street. 
Tliev ha\c many warm friends in Keokuk 
and occujjy an enviable position in social 
circles of the citv. 



3i6 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



FRANK H. JONES. 

One of the most extensively known and 
highly respected citizens in the business 
world of Keokuk, Iowa, for a long period 
of vears, was Frank H. Jones, who was 
born in Cass county, Ohio, January 30. 1843, 
the son of Benjamin and Eliza Jones, and 
came with his parents when about ten years 
of age to Keokuk, and here spent the remain- 
der of his life in constant and useful activity 
along commercial lines. He was one of a 
familv comprising four sons and one daugh- 
ter, as follows : Edward H., now clerk in a 
bank in the Island of Porto Rico ; Hezekiah, 
who died at the age of thirty years; Frank 
H.. our subject; John, now a resident of 
Allniquerque, Xew ^Mexico, and Kate, wife 
of Newton E. Clark, of Newtoaville, Massa- 
chusetts. While yet a mere boy Mr. Jones be- 
came a clerk in the hardware store of Cady, 
Jones & Peck, in whicli position he quickly 
won the favor of his employers, but at the 
beginning of the Civil War his enthusiasm 
for the cause of his country w'as so great that 
he determined to enlist in the Union army. 
Being opposed in this re.solution. howe\'er, 
by his mother, he went in company with a 
friend to Chariton, Missouri, where was 
then stationed the First Regiment Iowa Cav- 
alry, and enlisted in Company A, in which 
he continued until an injury caused by be- 
ing thrown from his horse rendered him 
unfit for further active service, and he was 
honor.-tbly discharged. Later he became 
clerk to a sutler, a position in which he was 
paid a very high salary, and in this capacity 
accompanied the army througout its cam- 
paigns in the South until close of the war. 



In 1865 Mr. Jones resumed his inter- 
rupted relations with his former employers, 
who gladl)- re-engaged his services, and he 
continued with them until they retired from 
business, when he formed a partnership with 
Samuel Dillon, -and they established a 
men's furnishings business, the style of the 
firm being Dillon & Jones. This enterprise 
proved xtvy successful, and its large pros- 
perity was justly attributable in a very 
marked degree to the care, energy and sound 
business judgment of Mr. Jones, whose best 
efforts were ever devoted to its welfare, but 
after a time the connection was terminated 
bv the sale of 'Sir. Dillon's interest to James 
Welch, the firm then becoming Welch & 
Jones. For a number of years, however, Mr. 
Jones conducted the business alone, and he 
continued to be actively associated with its 
fortunes until the hand of death removed 
him from the world of the living. 

At Chariton, Iowa, on November i, 
1866. Mr. Jones wedded Miss Mary Eliza- 
beth ]iIoore. daughter of Samuel and Isabel 
(Burney) Moore. The Moore family were 
early arrivals on the frontier, and William 
Moore, grandfather of Mrs. Jones, came 
into contact with the Indians, by whom he 
was taken ])risoner and held in captivity for 
three years. Shortly after his capture he 
was stripped of his clothing to undergo the 
ordeal of running the gauntlet, and as he 
stood at the head of the two ranks of savages 
armed with clubs and weapons ready to rain 
blows upon him. a squaw began the torture 
bv thrusting a firebrand against his flesh; 
and this act of ferocity saved his life, for, 
seizing the squaw by the feet, he threw her 
down a steep, high bluff, on which the party 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



317 



was standing, and this so amused the In- 
dians that they burst into laughter, and he 
was not required to run the gainitlet. He 
came to be great!}' admired by the Indians, 
and after his return home he was visited 
each year In- the chief of tire tribe, who 
finally died at his home. Samuel Moore, 
who was one of a family of eleven sons and 
daugiiters. all of whom grew to maturity, 
was a farmer, and leaving Cadiz, Ohio, in 
1853, he traveled westward by water, set- 
tling at Bloomington. Illinois, whence he 
again removed in 1865 to Keokuk, Iowa, 
and afterward to Chariton, this state. Later 
the family located in Grand Glacier, Arkan- 
sas, and it was at that place that Mr. Moore 
died in 1876. at the age of sixty-five years. 
Isabel Burney, mother of Mrs. Jones, was 
one of thirteen brothers and sisters, all of 
whom grew to maturity and married, and 
her paternal grandparents, who were of 
Scotch-Irish extraction, early settled in the 
neighborhood of Urichsville. Ohio, where 
they reached the land on which they estab- 
lished their home by cutting roads through 
the forest. 

To ^Ir. and Mrs. Jones were born three 
sons and one daughter, as follows : Georgia 
Belle, wife of \V. S. Phillips, of Keokuk; 
Charles E.. clerk, and Frank M.. manager 
of their father's estate, including the mer- 
cantile business left by him, aufl which they 
still conduct, and William S., who is a resi- 
dent of Chicago. To the sons who manage 
the mterests which he left in Keokuk has 
descended much of the prestige enjoyed by 
Mr. Jones during his life, and the responsi- 
bility attached thereto is an important one, 
for he occupied a recognized position of 
leadership, and was active in all good causes. 



Me wiili his wife was a faithful member of 
the Congregational church, to which he was 
a generous and willing contributor for all 
its charities and philanthropic movements, 
and he took an active and helpful interest in 
the affairs of tlie Grand Army of the Re- 
public, of which he was a member, while his 
public spirit and desire to fulfill the obliga- 
tions of citizenship made him a loyal worker 
in the ranks of the Republican party. He 
occupied a desirable position as one of the 
earlier and more celebrated merchant pro 
motors of Keokuk's welfare, while his enter- 
prising disposition led him always to cnrry 
a large and seasonable stock of goods in his 
particular line: and he held his patrons by 
the strong ties of strictest integrity in his 
dealings and absolute frankness in all mat- 
ters. Personally he was ever cheerful, 
courteous, considerate of others, and unfail- 
ingly kind to all. He died February 19. 
1903. and his passing has been a matter for 
deep and sincere regret for many, as he num- 
bered his friends by the score, and the hun- 
dred in this and more distant communities, 
and was universally respected for those high 
qualities which endeared him to those who 
now mourn a devoted husband and loving, 
indulgent father. 



BYRON C. DAVIS. 



The life of one who, beginning his busi- 
ness activities at an early age, passing 
through many changes of scene and fortune, 
achieving success, and always maintaining 
for himself an honored and respected stand- 



3i8 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



ing in the community, can not fail to furnish 
an interesting study to the readers of this 
vohime. Mr. Davis was born at Frankfort. 
Kentucky, July 30, 1846, and when nine 
years old accompanied his parents to Fort 
^ladison. At the age of eleven years he 
began clerking in a dry goods store. After 
three years of faithful service he became 
second clerk of the ^lississippi river steamer 
"Pomeroy," this step ha\ing been taken in 
i860. During the following four years he 
was employed on the "Pomeroy," "Kate 
Cassel." "New Boston," and "Keithsburg," 
and in January, 1864, he went to Chicago 
and entered school, having a high regard for 
education, and wishing to perfect himself 
in certain branches of learning. Here, how- 
ever, his patriotism and a knowledge that 
his country was in danger triumphed over 
his desire for self-adwancement, and he en- 
listed as a soldier in the One Hundred and 
Forty-seventh Regiment, Illinois Volunteer 
Infantr>% under Capt. A. C. Bardwell and 
Col. H. F. Sickles. Assigned to the Army 
of the Cumberland, the young soldier was 
not destined to participate in any of the 
more important battles of the war, but 
passed through a year of hard and exhaust- 
ing service, mostly .skirmish duty, and sus- 
tained hardships from which his health 
suffered much in after years. 

Mustered out of the ranks at Savannah, 
Georgia, and receiving his arrears of pay at 
Springfield, Mr. Davis visited Xew York 
city for a short time and then returned to 
Chicago, where he accepted employment 
as a traveling salesman for Day, Tilden & 
Company, wholesale dealers in notions and 
fancv drv goods. Yov three vears he con- 



tinued in this work, the latter part of the 
period Ijeing spent with the firm of Dunlap 
Brothers, when he was seized with a violent 
attack of rheumatism, which rendered him 
unable to perform any work for seven years. 
during which he remained at home. This 
affliction, which also led to a heart affec- 
tion of a serious nature, was a recurrence 
of the same disease contracted while doing 
militarv flutv in the South. 

.\bout the year 1879 ^f''- I^^vis had so 
far recovered his health as to enable him 
to resume active life, and he entered the 
employ of McDonald Brothers, of La 
Crosse, Wisconsin. For seven years he was 
engaged in rafting and towing logs and 
lumber from Stillwater to St. Louis. This 
work he abandoned in 1885 for the purpose 
of establishing himself in the retail shoe 
business in Fort Madison. After success- 
fully conducting this enterprise for two 
years he disposed of it. selling to D. T. 
Brown, and was engaged in clerical em- 
ployment until 1903, when he repurchased 
his former business. 

On January 30, 1879, at Fort Madison, 
Mr. Da\is married Miss Mary Elizabeth 
Brown, daughter of Daniel T. Brown, of 
this place. .As Mr. Brown has been long 
identified with the business interests of the 
city it seems fitting that he should receive 
mention. He was born in Athens, Ohio, 
August 2j, 1822. and removed to Iowa in 
1856. Until attaining his majority he 
acted as a clerk, but then established a gen- 
eral store, which he sold before coming to 
Lee county. In Denmark township, this 
county, he bought a farm, which he operated 
until 1870, when he became the proprietor 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



319 



of a store tor the sale of IxooUs. wall paper, 
sewing machines, etc. Here he Iniilt up a 
larg-e luisiness. but sold it in i88j. Later 
he opened a shoe store, which he has since 
sold to his son-in-law. His marriage to 
Aliss Maria Dean Foster, who was liorn at 
Athens, Ohio, took place in October, 1845, 
and unto them ha\-e been born six childrei: 
— William E., of Fort Madison; Charles P., 
of Clark county, Missouri; Mrs. B. C. 
Davis, of Fort ]\Iadison; Augustus P., of 
Fort Madison, Iowa; Frank R.. who 
is in Mexico, and Herbert D.. who is in 
Washington, D. C. Mr. Brown is himself 
the only living member of a family of eight 
children, of whom he was the youngest. He 
has long been a memlier of the Presbyterian 
church, and in politics has always affiliated 
with the Republican party. He owns a 
commodious residence at 629 Fourth street. 
Mr. Davis, our subject, is the son of 
William H. Davis, a physician, who served 
during the Civil W'ar as assistant surgeon 
of the Twenty-first Missouri Volunteer In- 
fantry. His death occurred at Corinth. 
Mississippi. July ly. 1862. At one time he 
was engaged in professional practice in Fort 
Madison, and at another period of his life 
was a contractor, having built the levee along 
the river front. At the time of his enlist- 
ment in the Union forces he was conducting 
the McFarland Hotel on Front street. The 
wife and mother was Margaret (Davis) 
Davis. She died October 12. 1888. Four 
of their sons and daughters survive them, 
Byron C. Davis being the eldest. They are: 
\\'illiam H.. who was murdered at Pine 
Bluff, Arkansas. Februarv' 22, 1879; Mrs. 
Margaret J. McDermith, of Fort Madison, 



a widow : Charles J. Daxis. of Jefferson 
City. Missouri: and Ibilmes Lee Davis, 
actor and musician. 

Of the union of Mr. and Mrs. Byron C. 
Davis have been born four children, as fol- 
lows: Daniel Churchill, born Octoljer 17, 
1882; Bessie, liorn December 11. 1883; 
Frank Bn^wn. born December 1 1. 1885. and 
William Lvnn, born September 19. 1887. 

]\Ir. Davis is a member of the Presby- 
terian church, and fraternally has member- 
ship relations with the Masonic order, the 
Grand Army of the Republic, of the local 
post of which he is a charter member; the 
Knights of Pythias. Independent Order of 
Odd Fellows, Ancient Order United Work- 
men, the Druids and the Brotherhood of 
American Yeoman. At the present time he 
is acting as deputy state fish and game war- 
den, and holds the honorable office of presi- 
"dent of the board of education of the City 
of Fort Madison. The family home is at 
409 Fourth street. Air. Davis is well liked 
and popular, with a wide circle of friends, 
and well deserves mention in the history of 
the city in which a great part of his life 
has been passed. 



WILLIAM H. HOPKIRK. 

A long career of highly useful public 
service, first on the field of battle and later 
in the no less honorable field of education, 
combined with a character of inflexible in- 
tegritv and broad human sympathy, such are 
the claims to consideration possessed by the 



320 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



man whose name stands at the head of this 
article. WilHam H. Hopkirk was born in 
Jefferson county, Iowa, October 13, 1843, 
the son of John and Jane (Nicholson) Hop- 
kirk. The father, who was a farmer, was 
born in Scotland, April i, 1808, and emi- 
grated to America in 1828, and the mother 
was a native of England, her natal day being 
February 8, 1810. Their marriage took 
place in Jefferson county, this state. 

William H.. our subject, was reared in 
the work of his father's farm, acquiring dur- 
ing his early years those lessons of diligence 
and application which have since carried 
him to positions of usefulness. At the be- 
ginning of the Civil War, although scarcely 
more than a boy, he resolved to aid in the 
great struggle upon which his country was 
then entering, and enlisted in Company M, 
of the Fourth Iowa Cavalry, under Colonel 
Winslow and Captain Whiting. His regi- 
ment formed at different times a part of 
the departments of Mississippi and Ten- 
nessee, and the young soldier was destined 
to experience much hard and active duty. 
-Among the more imporant battles in which 
he was engaged were those at Guntown and 
in the rear of Vicksburg. During his regi- 
ment's Missouri campaign he was prostratefl 
by malarial fever, and was assigned to hos- 
pital. He was mustered out of the military 
service June 22. 1865, at Davenport, Iowa, 
having ser\-ed through the entire course of 
the war. 

On lea\ing the army Mr. Hopkirk re- 
sumed his education, entering Iowa W^es- 
leyan Lnix^ersity, at Alount Pleasant, from 
which institution he was graduated with the 
degree of Bachelor of Arts, in 1872. He 



then began his life work of teaching. For 
many years he acted as principal and teacher 
at Burlington, being teacher of science in 
the high school at that place for ten years. 
For an interval of two or three years he was 
engaged in business with his brother at 
Lockbridge. but returned to teaching, and 
spent fi\e years as principal of schools at 
Agency and five years in a similar position 
at Montrose, thus completing a total of 
twenty years devoted to educational work 
with scarcely an interruption. In 1894 he 
came to Fort Madi.son, and engaged in the 
insurance and real estate business, in which 
he still continues. He occupies handsome 
offices in the Marquette building. 

At Burlington, Iowa. June 2y, 1877, Mr. 
Hopkirk was united in marriage with Miss 
Etta Cowles, who was born in Massachu- 
setts March 15, 1854. Unto them have been 
born five children, as follow^s. Ruth, now 
deceased : Jessie L., student in the State 
Xormal School, at Cedar Falls ; Clarence 
C, graduate of Fort IMadison high school, 
class of 1904; Roland, attending the public 
school, and Howard. 

Mr. Hopkirk's father died in Jefferson 
county in 1876. He was the father of five 
children, two of whom, besides our subject,, 
survive him. They are : David, of Fair- 
field, Iowa, and Airs. Isabel Sampson, of the 
same place. He was well favored of fortune, 
leaving to his family at his death 480 acres 
of fertile and improved land in Jefferson 
county. 

Mr. Hopkirk and his family are active 
workers in the Presbyterian church, and he 
is a member of the Knights of Pythias, the 
Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and 



LEE COUNTY. IOWA. 



321 



the Grand Army of the RepubHc. In mem- 
ory of his school days he holds membership 
in the Alumni Association of Iowa, Wes- 
leyan University, and in the Greek Society 
of Phi Delta Theta. Politically he adheres to 
the principles and organization of the Re- 
publican party, and is an especially warm 
admirer ami supporter of President Roose- 
velt. Warm-hearted, genial, and a ready 
reader of character, he is popular with a 
large circle of acquaintances, and enjoys the 
general esteem. 



ELIZABETH PENNARTZ. 

Elizabeth Pennartz, of Fort Madison. 
was born in Germany, October 3, 1847, and 
came with her parents to America at the 
age of ten years. Siie is the daughter of 
Frank and ^tlargaret (Kolkmann) Otte, the 
father Ijeing a linen weaver in his native 
land and an engineer in a woolen mill at 
Ouincy. Illinois, where he spent the latter 
part of his life and where he died. 

Before going to Quincy the family lived 
for a time at West Point, Lee county, and at 
that place our subject was married to Hubert 
Pennartz. a farmer, in 1866. On account 
of ill health they later left the farm and re- 
moved to Fort Madison, where Mr. Pen- 
nartz conducted a billiard hall on Front 
street, and in tliis city he (bed in 1895. ^^^ 
was a member of St. Mary's Catholic church 
and of the Catholic Mutual Protective As- 



sociation. To them were born nine chil- 
dren, as follows: Bertha, wife of Frank 
W. .Sloan, of Chicago; Margaret, who died 
at the age of four months; Marie, wife of 
Cassimere W'olpers, Doctor of Medicine, 
Doctor of Dental Surger\-, Chicago; Magda- 
len, wife of Winter Hupp, of Des Moines, 
Iowa; Katherine, wife of William Maize, 
of Fort Madison; Anna, wife of Peter Kron, 
of Fort Madison; John Joseph; Clara, who 
died at the age of twenty years, and Richard 
Hubert, student. 

Since her husband's death Mrs. Pennartz 
has been practicing midwifery and acting as 
a nurse. She was graduated from the Chi- 
cago School of Midwifery, August 28, 1896, 
and from the Chicago School of Anatomy 
and Physiology, February 22, of the same 
year, receiving diplomas from both schools, 
and passed the state board examination at 
Springfield, Illinois. 

Fraternally Mrs. Pennartz is a member 
of the Brotherhood of American Yeomen. 
The family home is at 1304 Third street, and 
notwithstanding the care of its supervision 
and her other duties, Mrs. Pennartz has al- 
ways gi\-en the closest attention to the ad- 
vancement of the individual members of her 
family. The four older children were edu- 
cated at St. Mary's parochial school, and the 
others in the public and high schools of 
Fort Madison. Mrs. Pennartz is a woman 
of strong character, and her ciiildren are 
fortunate in the inherited abilities which are 
enabling them to win success in the world. 
She enjoys the respect, confidence and es- 
teem of a wide circle of acquaintances and 
friends. 



322 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



SARAH MARIA BENBOW. 

The name wliich forms the title of this 
article is well worthy of a place in the pres- 
ent volume as the representative of a family 
widely known in connection with the more 
important interests of Lee county — a family 
which in its history exemplifies in the most 
admirahle manner the triumph of those qual- 
ities of enterprise, sound judgment and un- 
wavering integrity which have caused men 
of English race to win supremacy in all de- 
partments of the world's activity. 

Mrs. Sarah Maria Benbow was born 
on the 1 2th day of August, 1835, in Lon- 
don, England, the seventh child of William 
Cole and Sarah Cole. The father was also 
born in London, the only son of Richard 
and Sarah Jourdon Cole. Richard Cole was 
a designer of patterns and embosser, and 
manufacturer of silks, and accumulated a 
considerable fortune. His son received a 
liberal education at Edinburgh and Oxford 
Universities, and afterward studied law at 
Lincoln's Inn, where he was admitted as a 
barrister-at-law. He was married to Sarah 
Gosling, and having imbibed the spirit of 
freedom and being a firm belie\-er in Re- 
publican institutions, he decided to emi- 
grate to America with his wife, seven chil- 
dren and his parents, and started on the 
long journcv. The voyage across the ocean 
took o\'er four weeks, during which voyage 
his father died and was buried at sea. They 
landed at New York city and from there 
journeyed westward by the slow Erie canal 
boats to Buffalo, thence by lake to Racine, in 
theTerritory of Wisconsin, arriving there on 
the 14th day of February, 1842. The next 



spring they moved to Yorkville township, 
Racine county, and settled upon a large 
tract of unimpro\ed prairie land, entered by 
Mr. Cole from the go\-ernment. and there 
established their new home on the border of 
civilization, a great change for a family born 
and raised in the City of London. The chil- 
dren being }'oung, cfuickly adapted them- 
selves to their new surroundings. It was 
here that Sarah Cole, at the age of seven 
years, commenced to attend school. For- 
tunately such advantages as the school of- 
fered were supplemented by parental in- 
struction and discipline in a refined home 
and under the guidance of liberally edu- 
cated parents. Lnder these influences she 
grew to womanhood and on the 24th day 
of April, 1854, was united in marriage to 
John William Benbow, a native of Eng- 
land, born in Staffordshire, the eldest son of 
William Benbow and Ann (Bagley) Ben- 
bow, who resided near Dudley. At the age 
of nine vears the parents, with their family, 
emigrated to America, crossing the Atlantic 
ocean, which voyage took over five weeks, 
landing at New York city in June of 1840, 
where they immediately took up their west- 
ward journev by way of the Erie canal and 
Great Lakes, at that time the most conve- 
nient mode of travel to the great Mississippi 
valley, and finally settled in Yorkville town- 
ship, Racine county. Territory of Wisconsin. 
It was here also that John attended school, 
and while growing to manhood exjierienced 
the frontier life of a new and undeveloped 
country, and with these surroundings he de- 
\eloped a strong character and vigorous 
constitution, and it was here that he first 
met Sarah Cole. After their marriage they. 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



325 



too. followed the wave of emigration west- 
ward and finally settled on a farm in Lee 
county, Iowa. Afterward they moved to 
the City of Fort ^ladison. Iowa, where Mr. 
Benl'iow engaged in Inisiness as a dealer in 
erain and seeds and carried on this lousiness 
up to the time of iiis death, which occurred 
on tiie 29th d?iy of March, 1890. resulting 
from an injury sustained from l)eing run 
o\-er l)y a railway train while walking along 
the railway track from his place of business 
to the depot. He was an energetic ag- 
gressive and honest man. commanding the 
respect and confidence of those who knew 
him. He left survix'ing him his devoted 
wife, one daughter and six sons, whose fam- 
ily ties have kept them close together, all 
the children having married and settled near 
their old home. William Henry Benbow 
was married to Harriett A. Rice, now de- 
ceased, leaving an only daughter, Fay .Sarah 
Harriett Benbow. Horatio Frederick Ben- 
bow was married to Emma Sowden. to 
whom was born one son. John (ilenn Ben- 
bow. Henrietta Sarah Benbow was united 
in marriage to John Benjamin Williams; 
they have two daughters, Sarah Henrietta 
and Villa Williams. Edgar Charles Ben- 
bow w.'is united in marriage to Edith Minnie 
Heitz: thc\- have been blessed with two 
daughters. Edith Stella and Hazel Florence, 
and one son. Earl William Benbow. Al- 
fred James Benbow was married to Emaline 
Okell. they have three daughters, Margaret 
Helen. Martha Marie and Esther Drake, and 
one son. Alfred Lu.sk Benbow. John Lin- 
coln Benbow was married to Happy Melissa 
Plumer. Albert Richard Benbow was mar- 
ried to Freda Lazetta Salmon, they have 
one daughter, Charlotte Ruth Benbow. 



The modier is still the center of this 
large family circle and looks back with great 
])leasure upon the many rugged hardships 
oxercome and diflicuJtics surmounted dur- 
ing her actixe and streiuhius life in caring 
for and watching over the interests and wel- 
fare of her family and still takes a keen in- 
terest in everything that is going on in the 
busv world. 



H. C. LANDES. 



H. C. Landes, who, since 185 1, has re- 
sided in Keokuk and is now filling the posi- 
tion of justice of the peace, was liorn in 
(Jircle\ille. Pickaway county. Ohio, January 
7. 1832. The Landes family is descended 
from Pennsylvania German ancesti-y, and 
the parents of our subject were natives of 
the Keystone state. The father, Joseph 
Landes. served in the War of 18 12. and died 
in the year 1864, while his wife, who bore 
the maiden name of Eve Weaver, passed 
away in January,. 1877, in Montgomery 
county. Iowa. 

H. C. Landes acquired a public-school 
education and came to Iowa in 1851, when 
but nineteen years of age. He has resided 
in Keokuk continuously since the 20th of 
December, of that year. He is a baker by 
trade and in the early period of his residence 
in Keokuk he worked for U. Raplee. in 
whose employ he remained until 1854. In 
December, 1854, he was a clerk in the post- 
office, under Colonel Patterson; in 1856 he 
left the employ of the postoffice and entered 



324 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



into partnership with James F. Dougherty 
in the baking business one year. He was 
also for several years foreman for Patterson 
& Timberton Pork House. In the spring 
of i860, while being employed in a mill he 
suffered an accident, having his ankle 
crushed and this defeated his desire to be- 
come a soldier at the 'time of the Civil War. 
He, however, was a sutler with the Twenty- 
fifth Missouri Infantry, which was after- 
ward consolidated with BisselFs Engineer- 
ing Corps. He was stationed at Johnsonville, 
the terminus of the Nashville & Johnson 
Railroad during the construction of that 
line. Returning to Keokuk in 1865, he soon 
afterward went to Charleston, where he 
conducted a restaurant for a year and then 
again came to this city, in 1866. In 1870 
he accepted a position on the police force as 
turnkey. In 1874 he was elected justice of 
the peace, but resigned that position the fol- 
lowing year, and again became a member of 
the police force, acting in that capacity until 
1884. He afterward conducted the Fulton 
market in connection with his son for three 
or four years, and on the expiration of that 
period, turned his attention to market gar- 
dening, which he followed until 1901, within 
the city limits. He afterward purchased a 
restaurant, which he conducted until Jan- 
uary, 1903, when he qualified again as justice 
of the peace, and is now acting in that 
capacity. 

Mr. Landes is a Republican in politics, 
and has always been deeply interested in the 
success and growth of his party. All mat- 
ters of public moment have elicited his at- 
tention, and along many lines he has -been 
active in support of measures for the general 



good. He served as an independent fireman 
in early life, and was the last president of 
the Young American Fire Company, which 
was organized in 1856, and disbanded in 
1876, when the paid department was in- 
stituted. In 1878, while he was a member 
of the police force, he was one of the prin- 
cipal promoters of the movement, whereby 
the police held Sunday afternoon ser\-ices 
with Rev. John Burgess, as pastor. The serv- 
ices continued for one hour and none but men 
were admitted. It was held in the council 
chamber and this custom was kept up for 
about three years. A choir was organized, 
of which Mr. Landes became a member. 
They paid John Wyckoff, the leading singer, 
five dollars for his Sunday services and paid 
the preacher whatever remained from the 
collection above incidental expenses. 

On the 29th of April, 1854, Mr. Landes 
was married at Francisville, Missouri, to 
]\Iiss Mary Louise Rogers, of Keokuk. She 
was bora in Clinton county, Ohio, and with 
her father came to Iowa in 1846. They have 
one child, William H., of Chicago, and he 
has one daughter, Mamie Edna, who is now 
the wife of John W. Raymond, of Burling- 
ton, Iowa, by whom she has twins, Clarence 
and Bernie. The Landes home is in Belk- 
nap boulevard, in the fifth ward, of Keo- 
kuk. !Mr. Landes was reared in the Luth- 
eran church, but now attends the Unitarian 
services, while his wife is a member of the 
Alethodist Episcopal church. For more 
than a half centur}' a resident of Keokuk he 
witnessed much of its growth, progress 
and improvement and has taken great in- 
terest in what has l)een done, having always 
had firm faith in its future. 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



325 



ARCHIE VERMAZEN. 

Archie Vermazen, who, starting out in 
life for himself at a very early age and with 
a brave spirit and strong determination, 
meeting the difficulties and obstacles that 
lay in his path, has worked his way upward 
to success, and is now classed with the lead- 
ing agriculturists of Lee county. The ex- 
periences of pioneer life in the Wild West 
ha\e been his, and for many years his por- 
tion was that of unremitting toil, but his 
persistency of purpose and capable manage- 
ment have made him today one of the pros- 
perous agriculturists of southeastern Iowa. 
He was born in Holland, in the province of 
Gilderland, January 25, 1844, his parents 
being Archie and Augusta (Von Hafton) 
Vermazen. His maternal ancestors were 
connected with the nobility of that country. 
His father, of Huguenot extraction, was an 
active business man of his native province. 
where he conducted a bakery and also dealt 
in grain. In 1857 he came to the United 
States with his familv including his wife 
and nine children. That the means of travel 
in those days bore little resemblance to the 
transportation methods of the jiresent is in- 
dicated by the fact tiiat fifty-two days were 
concerned in making the trip from Havre, 
France, to New Orleans. He came up the 
river to Keokuk, arriving in April, 1857, 
and in that city the father established his 
home. r>eing at that time well advanced in 
years, he did not enter active business there, 
but sul)sequently remo\ed to a farm and 
died in Charleston township, in December, 
1875. His wife survived him until 1900, 
passing away at the advanced age of eighty- 
nine years. 



Archie \'ermazcn was. with one excep- 
tion, the youngest in a large family. He 
acquired good educational privileges in Hoi- 
land, attending school without vacation until 
coming to Iowa. Here he also continued 
his studies and gained a good command of 
the English language. .Not long after ar- 
riving at Keokuk he found employment with 
a farmer in Clark county, ^lissouri, receiv- 
ing for his services but seven dollars per 
month. Later he was paid eight dollars per 
month, and did practically a man's work. 
He managed to save something from his 
meager wages, and he continued employment 
as a farm hand until 1S59. \vhen he accepted 
a position in a bakery in Keokuk, and later 
was in the office of Dr, Sanford, of that cit}', 
until about 1861. In the fall of that year he 
enlisted in the Second Iowa Infantry, but 
his parents not giving their consent he could 
not be sworn in. A veiy dissimiliar ex- 
perience to anything that he had previously 
known came to him, however, in the spring 
of 1862, when he joined an expedition that 
left Summitville for eastern Oregon. He 
drove an ox team on that long journey over 
the plains and the mountains, reachino^ his 
destination in September. About that time 
many emigrants were killed, but the party 
with which [Mr. Vermazen traveled escaped 
without loss of life. During the fall and 
winter of 1862 he was on a ranch in eastern 
Oregon, and in the spring of 1863 went to 
the mines in idrdio, which li;i(I Init recently 
been discovered. There he spent two years 
in mining, sleeping in a stockade over night 
on account of the hostility of the Indians. 
The difficult experiences of frontier life in 
these mining camps is to him not a matter 
of history, but a matter of personal ex- 



326 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



perience. He was successful, however, and 
returned from the mines to eastern Oregon, 
where he first located. There he conducted 
a trading- post and stage station on the edge 
of the Umatilla Indian reservation, under 
the name of Swift & A'ermazen. Mr. \'er- 
mazen, however, having exclusive manage- 
ment of the business, which he successfully 
conducted for four years. \\'hile there he 
was elected sheriff of Umatilla county, but 
his business being worth much more to him 
than the office he succeeded in getting out of 
it on account of not being of age. This was 
during the exciting period in the formation 
of the great northwestern country, when 
there was a large lawless element attracted 
thither Ijy the hope of being able to prey 
upon the fortunate miners and business 
men. Mr. Vermazen took a firm stand in 
favor of law and order, and in connection 
with other citizens of worth, aided largely 
in promoting the material unbuilding of the 
district and in upholding its moral, legal and 
political status. 

Desiring" to return Imme in 1868. and 
knowing it unsafe to cross the plains, he 
went down the Columbia river to Portland, 
thence to San Francisco and from that port 
sailed to New York by way of the Nicarauga 
route, and returned fnmi the eastern me- 
tropolis to Lee county. In the spring of 
1868, however, he again left home and 
made a settlement in Dakota, but that was 
the year of the great grasshopper scourge 
there, and he abandoned his business inter- 
ests in the North and returned to Lee 
county, determined to make it his perma- 
nent abode. Here he has since lived, and 
his years have brought him prosperity be- 



cause of his business adaptability and the ex- 
cellent use he has made of opportunity. He 
first purchased a farm in Charleston town- 
ship, on which he lived for five years and 
tlien turned his attention to the conduct 
of a general store in the village of Charles- 
ton, which he successfully conducted, build- 
ing up an extensive trade from a small be- 
ginning. He also added agricultural imple- 
ments to his stock of goods and erected a 
store building there 22x100 feet, all of 
which was devoted to the conduct of his en- 
terprise. For twenty-six years he repre- 
sented the mercantile interests of Charles- 
ton and gained a wide and favorable ac- 
quaintance throughout the county as a mer- 
chant of progressive spirit and known re- 
liability. In the meantime he began dealing 
in lands and carried on quite an extensive 
real estate business. He also built a good 
home in the village and there lived until his 
retirement from commercial circles, when 
he removed to his farm, comprising 556 
acres of land adjoining Charleston. This he 
now manages, the farm being devoted to 
stockraising purposes. As in his other busi- 
ness ventures he displays keen discernment, 
unfaltering perseverance and great diligence, 
and these qualities have been the essentia! 
factors in bringing him the splendid success 
which he enjoys. 

In his political views Mr. Vermazen has 
always been a Democrat and has taken an 
active and helpful interest in political and 
other public aft'airs in his township and 
county. He was first elected justice of the 
peace while still upon the farm and held 
that office until he declined further election 
for the ofiice, his long retention therein in- 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



3-'7 



dicating the fact that his decisions were al- 
ways characterized by strict impartiality. 
He has served as township clerk and town- 
ship assessor for some time, and as delegate 
has attended various county, congressional 
and state conxentions. Before his term 
of assessor expired he was elected county 
supervisor and held the office for six years, 
serving as chairman of the board during the 
greater part of that time, and in the period 
of his incumbency a large number of sub- 
stantial improvements were made. He was 
postmaster under President Cleveland's ad- 
ministration during both his first and second 
terms, and received credit for his efficient 
service. His fraternal relations connect 
him with Joppa Lodge, No. 136, Free and 
Accepted Masons, of Montrose; Potowonok 
Chapter, Xo. 28. Roya! Arch Masons, of 
Fort Madison, and Charleston Lodge, No. 
89, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, in 
which he has filled every office, and for 
fifteen years was treasurer. 

On the 31st of December, 1868, Mr. 
Vermazen was married to Miss Emma Sapp, 
of Charleston, a daughter of John ^\^ Sapp, 
who at one time lived in Kentucky, after- 
ward in Ohio, and thence came to Iowa. 
They have two living children : James H. 
and John A. The former is now engaged 
with his father in the stock business, and is 
also a member of the firm of Vermazen 
Brothers, who succeeded their father in the 
mercantile business. He was married to 
Miss Mae Griswold, of Jefferson township, 
and they have three children : Hazel I\Lar- 
ian, Helen Marr and Lloyd Griswold. John 
A. Vermazen, who is manager of the mer- 
cantile establishment of Vermazen Brothers, 
wedded Grace Griswold, of Jefferson town- 



ship, and they have two children : Mildred 
Bessie and Archie James. Mrs. Vermazen 
is a member of the Baptist church, and Mr. 
Vermazen attends the services and con- 
tributes generously to that church, although 
he was reared in the Presbyterian faith. He 
has traveled extensively in this country and 
also in Europe, for he spent the summer of 
1897 visiting the home of his boyhood and 
other countries and places of interest. While 
there are many self-made men in .America 
the history of such a one never fails to 
prove of interest and often furnishes an in- 
centive for renewed effort on the part of 
others. E\-er}- individual feels a delight in 
victory, and when the conquest is over un- 
favorable conditions and the competitions of 
the business life the result is certainly most 
creditable. Mr. Vermazen, starting out in 
an independent business career at an early 
age, has proven in his life record that pros- 
perity and an honorable name may be won 
simultaneouslv. 



WALKER WILSON. 



\\'alker Wilson, a resident of the town- 
ship of Montrose, Lee county, Iowa, for 
more than forty years, donned the Union 
blue almost immediately on the outbreak of 
the Civil War, and was long a gallant sol- 
dier at the front, ever bearing himself brave- 
ly, and writing a record of which his many 
friends are justly proud. A generous gov- 
ernment well remembers his sickness and 
privation, and his name is on the roll of 



328 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



those it loves and honors, ever ministering 
to their needs with a hberal hand. 

Mr. Wilson was born in Gettysburg, 
Pennsylvania, October 2, 1835, a son of 
John and Rebecca (Walker) Wilson, both 
natives of that state. Soon after his birth 
his parents removed to Athens, Tennessee, 
where they maintained a home some years, 
after which they moved to Lowell, Iowa. 
In 1844 they came to Lee county, where their 
remaining years were spent. 

Walker Wilson secured his schooling in 
the log structures then the common type of 
the educational temple in Tennessee and 
Iowa, and early took charge of the parental 
homestead. On the formation of the First 
Iowa Cavalry he became a member of Com- 
pany A, June 13, 1861, and participated in 
the long and honorable career which was 
had by the members of that gallant organiza- 
tion, a record that was a credit to the state 
and an inspiration to all who loved the starry 
banner they so gallantly followed. The cap- 
tain of the company in which he went out 
to the front was a Mr. Torrence, who after- 
ward became a colonel. Many of the other 
officers rose to high command, the entire 
body of troops being noted alike for its brav- 
ery on the field, general efficiency in all the 
details of war, and self-reliant action in the 
face of danger and surprise. It was or- 
ganized at Keokuk as an independent com- 
mand, and went into service with its own 
horses, arms and general equipment. Mr. 
Wilson was in the regiment for three years 
and four months, and during that time did 
duty in Missouri, Arkansas, Texas, and sev- 
eral other states, participated in a number 
of severe engagements, mainly at Prairie 
Grove, Little Rock and Camden. Much of 



the time the regiment was engaged in fight- 
ing guerrillas, principally those under Price 
and Ouantrell. WHiile in the service he con- 
tracted rheumatism, chronic diarrhea and 
hemorrhoids, and on account of their after 
effects, is the recipient of a handsome pen- 
sion from the government. 

After returning to the pursuits of peace- 
ful life Mr. Wilson was engaged in cooking 
on the steamboats for some twenty years, 
being employed both on government boats 
and the Northern Line steamers. At differ- 
net times he was also employed in this ca- 
pacity on rafters, and everj-where was re- 
garded as an efficient and reliable man. For 
the past seven years he has been incapaci- 
tated for any kind of active work. He is a 
cheerful and genial character, and has many 
friends in the community, with whom he 
loves to recount his old-time experiences and 
memories. The nearest he came to being 
wounded during the Civil War, was when 
his horse was struck on the neck by a spent 
Minie ball, that glanced from the brass 
pommel on his saddle, and ranging upward, 
gave him a close call for time and eternity. 
Mr. Wilson is a member of Tip Best Post, 
No. 75, Grand Army of the Republic, and 
is now holding the position of chaplain in 
that organization. Once when the State 
Encampment was held at Cedar, he was ap- 
pointed commander. In politics he is a Re- 
publican. 

Mr. Wilson was married in 1856, at Sand 
Prairie, Lee county, to Miss Mary Jane 
Douglass, who died in 1858, leaving one 
child, James, who is now a resident of Fort 
Madison. Her remains were interred on 
Sand Prairie. 

In his youthful days, Mr. Wilson heard 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



3^9 



Joe Smitli, "the prophet," preach in Nauvno 
Temple many times during- tlie period that 
the Mormons lield sway in that region, and 
he well remembers the destruction of the 
Temple In- fire. He knew many of the re- 
puted bandits that flourished along the river 
in the early days, among them being Hodges, 
Barney, and perhaps eight or ten more. 
They li\-ed in cabins about eighty rods from 
his early home, and there were quiet enough. 
\\'hen the_\- finally left the neightorhood 
young \\'ils(-in and his chums thought they 
might have left something, perhaps some 
coin in their cabins, thoroughly overhauled 
the buildings, but only seventy-five cents re- 
warded their labors. He remembers when 
the Mormons were driven out of Nauvoo, 
and the subsequent arrival of the Icarian 
fraternity from France: and it is his opinion 
that many of the crimes and depredations 
charged to the Mormons were in reality 
wrought by the bandits that then enjoyed 
such imniunify on the river. He saw the 
hanging of the two Hodges at Burlington 
in 1S48. vi'ho had been condemned for mur- 
der at Da\-enport. At an early day he was 
a member of the Anti-Horse Thief Associa- 
tion, and was a very active defender of law 
and order. Mr. W^ilson has a good standing 
in the community for his manifest honor and 
genuine integrity. 



FRANK COYNE. 



One of the prominent representatives of 
practical agriculture in Lee county, is Frank 
Coyne, a resident of Jefferson township. 



where he has a beautiful home and a well- 
impnned farm of 320 acres. Mr. Coyne 
traces his ancestry to Ireland, his paternal 
grandfather having been a native of that 
country, but his own place of birth is Spring- 
field, Missouri, and the date November 6, 
1854. He is the son of William and Lavina 
(Oberly) Coyne. The father was born in 
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and there grew 
to manhood, acquiring meantime the trade 
of plastering. Hearing of the superior op- 
portunities to be found in the great West, 
and wishing to avail himself of its advan- 
tages, he came to Iowa some time between 
1840 and 1850, locating at F"ort Madison, 
Lee county, where he successfullv followed 
his trade, and later met and wedded Miss 
Oberly, who \\-as also a native of Pennsyl- 
vania. She came with her parents, Mr. and 
Mrs. Andrew Oberly, to Fort Madison in 
1840. Mr. and Mrs. Coyne removed after 
a time to Springfield, Missouri, where they 
continued to reside until the father of our 
subject was appointed, under the administra- 
tion of President Buchanan, to a position in 
the ofl^ce of the auditor of the postal de- 
partment at Washington. The family then 
returned to Lee county, locating upon the 
farm now owned by Mr. Coyne. .\i the 
beginning of the Civil War the father be- 
came a member of the Confederate Army, 
but at its close returned to a position in 
Washington, which he held until 1870, when 
he came to live with his family in Jefferson 
township. His death occurred here in 1875. 
Tlie mother still survives, and is living with 
her son. 

Frank Coyne, the subject of this review, 
secured a good education in the public 
schools, and enjoyed the additional advan- 



330 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



tage of learning the work of tlie farm by 
practical experience with its details. \Vhen 
the farm on which he resides was acquired 
by his mother in 1870, he assumed sole 
charge of its management and operation, 
and in 1900 he himself purchased it. Tliis 
he was enabled to do by the success wliich 
had come to him as a result of his energy, 
care and foresight in the conduct of the 
business. All the improvements have been 
made under his supervision, and the farm 
is one of the finest and best equipped in 
this portion of the county. Here Mr. Coyne 
conflucts general farming and stockraising 
and is also somewhat interested in buying 
and shipping grain and live stock. On Jan- 
uary 25, 1877, he was united in marriage to 
Miss Eliza Cale, of Jefferson township, 
daughter of the late Joseph Cale. who died 
in 1904. They have two daughters and 
' four sons, these being Mabel, William, How- 
ard. Nellie F., Frank, Jr.. and Harr\-. 

In his political faith Mr. Coyne is a 
firm believer in the declared principles of 
Democracy, and has served his party as a 
delegate in various con^•entions. but has 
never aspired for public ofifice. He feels a 
deep interest in the cause of education, tak- 
ing an active part in the betterment of the 
pulj'ic schools, and has been a director 
of Liberty district, Xo. 4, for a period 
of twenty-five years. He was reared in the 
Episcopal church, and still holds member- 
ship in that body at Montrose. He is en- 
terprising, public spirited and progressive, 
and his lovaltv to his convictions and abso- 
lute integrity in his dealings have inspired 
respect for his character on the part of all 
with whom he comes in contact. 



FRANK ROSS WATERS. 

Frank Ross Waters, who is engaged in 
the real estate business, in Keokuk, was 
born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, July 10, 
1854, his parents being Henry and Sarah 
(Pollock) A\'aters. The father was a con- 
tractor and on coming to the West settled in 
Keokuk, where he resided for mau}^ years, 
his death occurring in 1901. His wife had 
previously passed away. 

Frank Ross Waters spent the days of his 
boyhood under the parental roof, pursued his 
education in the public schools of Phila- 
delphia and learned the carpenter's trade in 
that city. He went to Kansas in the spring 
of 1869, when fifteen years of age, settling 
in Osborn county, where he secured a claim, 
making his home thereon until 1872. He 
owned a quarter section of land and in ad- 
dition to his agricultural pursuits followed 
carpentering. In 1872, however, he removed 
to Keokuk, where he continued as a jour- 
neyman carpenter until 1876, when he re- 
turned to his native city, there residing until 
1880, when once more he established his 
home in Keokuk. Here he was employed 
as a bench worker in the coach building de- 
partment of the shops of the St. Louis, Keo- 
kuk & Northwestem Railroad, occupying 
that position continuously until 1889, w'hen 
he met with an accident which has disabled 
him from active work as a carpenter since 
that time. He fell from a scaflFold on a 
building about forty-five feet and his ribs 
were broken. He was in St. Louis at the 
time, having gone there for business pur- 
poses, and for fourteen months he was con- 
fined to his home. Being unable to resume 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



331 



work at his trade, he spent li\e or six years 
upon the road as representative for the Tay- 
lor Manufacturings Company, of St. Louis, 
and for the Horn \'inegar Company, at 
Keokuk. He was also for two years travel- 
ing" solicitor fur the Constitution-Democrat, 
of Keokuk, ami was also solicitor of Gates 
City for two years, while in 1899, he turned 
his attention to the real estate business, in 
which he is now engaged. He handles both 
farm and city property and has secured a 
good clientage, negotiating many important 
real estate transfers, which have not only 
added to his individual income, hut have also 
teen a factor in the improvement of the city. 
In April, 1878, when in Philadelphia, 
Mr. Waters was married to Miss M. A. 
Weaver, and their children are Harry, who 
married Miss Calista A. Boatman, and is 
now foreman in a laundn.' ; Clara, who is 
serving as forelad\- in a laundrv' : Edward, 
who is cutter in the Ir\in-Philips Co., of 
Keokuk; Anna, at home; Maggie, George, 
Nellie, Afary and Emma, in school. Mr. 
Waters is a prominent representative of the 
Modern Woodmen of America, lie has 
served for seven years as clerk of Camp No. 
622, of Keokuk, and attended the clerks' 
meeting, in Indianapolis, in 1903. He is 
likewise a Mason, belonging to Eagle Lodge, 
No. 12, Free and Accepte<l Masons, of which 
he is junior deacon, and has been secretary 
of the Court of Honor since he became one 
of its representatives. He is also identified 
with the Knights and Ladies of Security, 
and attends and supports St. John's Epis- 
copal church. In politics he is a Repub- 
lican, and was a candidate before the county 
convention for nomination for county re- 



corder. He has served for two years on the 
board of registration in the first ward, and 
is a notary public. He has resided in Keo- 
kuk during the greater part of the time for 
more than thirty years and his interest in 
its upbuilding and im[)r(ivenient has led to 
acti\'e co-operation in manv measures for 
the general good. 



FRANK DIETZ. 



Frank Dietz was born in Jackson town- 
ship, Lee county, on the i6th of May, 1859, 
his parents being Edward and Martha 
(Gray) Dietz. The father's birth having oc- 
curred in New Albany, Indiana, on the 25th 
of Januar}', 1822, while his wife was born 
on the 29th of December, 1829, at Lexing- 
ton, Kentucky. They were married in 
Keokuk, Iowa, on the i6th of June, 1849, 
the father having been a pioneer settler of 
this city, arriving in the early '40s. A brick- 
layer by trade, he became a contractor in 
that line and erected many of the large build- 
ings of the city. In later vears he owned 
a garden spot in the Nassau addition to 
Keokuk, and lived a quiet life at his home, 
being comfortably situated with his family 
around him. He passed away in 1896, at 
the advanced age of seventy-four years, 
while his wife died on the 8th of March, 
1892. She belonged to the Methodist Epis- 
copal church, to which her husband gave his 
support and both were people of high re- 
spect, enjoying the confidence and good will 



2>2,2 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



of many friends.- In their family were ten 
cliildren, of whom eight are now hving. but 
Freeman and William have passed away. 
The others are George, who is pilot on the 
go\-ernment boat "Lucia" and makes his 
home at Keokuk; Clara Belle, the wife of 
John Merrick, who is employed in the saw- 
mill of the Tabor Lumber Company, at Keo- 
kuk: Ella, the wife of Emery Brain, who for 
twenty-four years was a bugler with the 
L^nited States Regulars, now retired on a 
pension, living in Wichita, Kansas ; Charles 
L., who is now assistant storekeeper for 
the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad 
Company, at St. Joseph, Missouri, and who 
for four years was alderman of Keokuk ; 
Harry, a twin brother of Charlie, who is 
engaged in business in Keokuk as a niemter 
of the firm of Harrison & Dietz ; Emma, the 
wife of George Heartlyne, who is connected 
with the r.ailroad service in the .State of 
Washington ; and James, a teamster of 
Keokuk. 

Frank Dietz acquired his education in 
the public schools of Keokuk, and after put- 
ting aside his text-books he secured em- 
ployment in a sawmill, where he remained 
for fifteen years. On the expiration of that 
period he was appoiiTted to a position on 
the police force in 1899, serving undei 
Mayors Dougherty and Craig, as captain of 
a night force. For several years he has 
worked at the carpenter's trade. His polit- 
ical allegiance is given the Democracy and 
he takes an active part in conventions, put- 
ting fortli e\'ery effurt in his power U\ pro- 
mote the growth and insure the success of 
the party. He belongs to the Independent 
Order of Odd Fellows, with which he has 



been identified for sixteen years and for four 
years he has been connected with the Mod- 
ern Woodmen of America. 

On the nth of May, 1880. Mr. Dietz 
was married to Miss Sarah Hamilton, of 
Keokuk, who was born in Lee county, but 
was reared in Lewis county, Iowa, by her 
grandmother, her mother, Mrs. Hamilton, 
having died during her infancy. Her father 
is now in the Soldiers' Home in Marshall- 
town, Iowa. Mr. and Mrs. Dietz have an 
adopted daughter, Elouise, who was born 
January 15, 1897. Their home is at the cor- 
ner of C and Estes streets in West Keokuk, 
and was erected in 1884. 



FREDERICK B. KREHBIEL 

Frederick B. Krehbiel, one of the re- 
spected and well-known citizens of Fort 
Madisnn. where he is leading a life of re- 
tirement at his pleasant home, 1401 Sixth 
street, is one of Lee county's native sons, 
having been bom at West Point, January 
4, 185 1. There he acted as assistant to his 
father in the farm work and applied him- 
self to acquiring an education in the public 
schools until his nineteenth year, when he 
decided to liegin his independent career. Go- 
ing to the village of Denmark, this county, 
he learned the trade of blacksmithing, which 
he followed at that place for twenty-eight 
years, achieving, by his energy, honesty and 
devotion to his work, an important financial 
success. After learning the trade he bought 
the shop of his employer. On terminating 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



333 



his business at Denmark in March, 1896, he 
purchased a farm of 378 acres in Pleasant 
Ridge township. The land at that time was 
only partially improved, but Mr. Krehbiel 
has since placed the entire tract under culti- 
vation, and also erected some of the present 
buildings. Here he remained for a period 
of eight years, engaged in general farming 
and the raising of high-grade stock, in which 
he met with a considerable degree of suc- 
cess. In 1903, having decided to retire from 
active life, he resigned the management (^f 
the farm to his son, and removed with his 
family to Fort Madison, where he purchased 
the present home and has since resided. 

In his religious relations Mr. Krehbie! 
is a member of the Mennonite church of 
Lee county, and politically, he is a lifelong 
Republican. He has not, howe\'er, pos- 
sessed time or inclination to engage actively 
in partisan politics, or to do more than cast 
his ballot in favor of honest government. 

Mr. Krehbiel is a son of John Charles 
and Katherine (Raber) Krehbiel. His 
father was bom in Rheinpfalz, Bavaria, Ger- 
man}-, June 9, 181 1. At the age of fifteen 
he learned the trade of a miller, and con- 
tinued in that occupation in his native land 
until 1832, when he emigrated to the L'nited 
States and followed it for one year in But- 
ler county, Ohio. He then returned to (ler- 
many and on April 12, 1837, was married to 
Miss Annie Wohlgemoth, who was also a 
native of Rheinpfalz, the date of her birth 
having been March, i8ri. On the dav of 
their marriage they sailed for .\merica. 
They made their home in Butler county un- 
til the autumn of 1839, when they decided 
to seek the greater opportunities of the West 



and became pioneers of Lee county, Iowa, 
erecting their cabin of logs at W'est Point. 
.\t that place the wife died the following 
year, leaving two children : John J., now 
a resident of Newton, Kansas, who was 
born in Ohio, May 3. 1838, and Hannah M., 
Iiorn in Lee county, November 26, 1839, 
now the widow of Daniel Ilertzler, late of 
Mount Rich, Kansas. 

On July 31, 184^), Mr. Krehbiel's father 
was remarried, his second wife being Kath- 
erine, daughter of Christian Raber, an early 
settler of the county. She was born in 
Baden, Germany, April 8, 1826. In the 
autumn of 1849 John Charles Krehbiel was 
ordained pastor of the Mennonite church, a 
position he retained until the time of his 
death. In 1857 lie removed to the village 
of West Point, where he purchased a half 
interest in the sawmill known as the Kreh- 
biel & Risser mill. Of his second marriage 
were born ten children, as follows : .\nnie 
M., wife of Edward Brown, of Denmark, 
Lee county; Christian W., deceased; Fred- 
erick B., the subject of this review; 
Katherine B., deceased; Elizabeth, wife of 
John Trowbridge, of Denmark ; Daniel S. ; 
Sarah M., deceased; Sarah R., wife of 
Lewis Bretz, of Deer Creek, Oklahoma; 
Charles W., a resident of McPherson Cen- 
ter, Kansas, and Henry IL, of Lingborg, 
Kansas. The father of the family died at 
West Point, February 26, 1886, at the age 
of seventy-five years. He was successful in 
business; was very public spirited, and was 
generally respected. He was elected to a 
number of township and county offices and 
performed their duties with ethciency and 
honor. He was buried at West Point. Mrs. 



334 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



Krelibiel, mother of our subject, died when 
Mr. Krehbiel was ninteen years of age. She 
died at the age of forty7foiir, and is also 
buried at West Point. Mr. Krehbiel was 
united in marriage at West Point, this 
county, to Miss Lena Linhard, who was 
born in Franklin township, the daughter of 
George and Louisa (Haessig) Linhard. Her 
father was born in French Alsace, in 1823, 
and emigrated to the L'nited States when 
t\vent\'-eight years of age. He first located 
in Xew York state, where he remained four 
j-ears, coming to Franklin township, Lee 
county, in 1856. There he purchased land 
and engaged in farming for a number of 
years, but a few years before his death he 
sold the farm and removed to Missouri, near 
Kirksville, where his death occurred, Feb- 
ruary 27, 1899, '" '^'^^ seventy-fifth year of 
his age. His widow is still living, at the 
age of seventy years, and resides with !\Ir. 
Krehbiel. She was tlie mother of eight 
children, as follows : Lena. Mary, who died 
in 1886; George, who resides at Lyons, New 
York; Phillip, a resident of Adair county, 
Missouri; Emma, wife of Dr. D. X. Coon, 
of Fort Madison; Lula, wife of O. M. 
Hutchinson, of Adair county, Missouri; 
William, of Adair county, and Ella, wife of 
Russell Bartlett, of Adair onmty. 

To Mr. and Mrs. Krehbiel ha\e been 
born three children, all of whom are na- 
tives of Denmark, Lee county. They are as 
follows: George J., bom May 14, 1877, 
resides on his father's farm, in Pleasant 
Ridge township, and on February 2, 1903, 
he married Miss Mayme Figgen, a daughter 
of Lawrence Figgen, late of Fort Madison. 
Tliev have one child, Lawrence F., born No- 



vember 13, 1903. in Pleasant Ridge town- 
ship. .Mice K., daughter of Mr. and Mrs. 
Krehbiel, was boni April 22, 1882. She is 
now the wife of John A. Heberer, a farmer, 
of Washington township. They have one 
child. Doratha Lee, born August 6, 1904, 
and .\ddie L., twin sister of Mrs. Heberer, 
resides with her parents. 

Air. Krehbiel has been a witness of many 
improvements in general conditions in Lee 
countv. has viewed its rise, in fact, from an 
almost primitive state to the proudest posi- 
tion in the commonwealth. Moreover, he 
has borne a worthy part in the general ad- 
vancement, as his ability has enabled him to 
do. He is a man of strong character, and 
has won success by his own efforts, and this 
achievement has gained for him the respect 
of all, while his genial disposition has made 
him manv friends. 



LINDSEY GREEN PITMAN. 

Lindsey Green Pitman, the oldest resi- 
dent of \\'est Point township and a member 
of one of the oldest pioneer families of Lee 
countv. Iowa, was born in Laurel count)', 
Kentucky. December 22. 1822, a son of 
Lewis and Martha (Green) Pitman. His 
father, Lewis, was a son of Richard Pitman, 
will 1 was a pioneer of Kentucky and first set- 
tled in \\'oodford county, but later removed 
to Laurel county, where he died. In the 
fall of 1834 Lewis Pitman left Kentucky 
with his family, traveling in wagons drawn 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



337 



by ox teams, and in t!ic spring of 1835 tiicy 
arrived in West Point township, tliis county, 
and settled on the east bank of the creek 
which flows past the present site of the vil- 
lage of West Point, taking up their residence 
on a claim which Lewis Pitman later entered 
as a "homestead" from the government, the 
tract consisting of about 160 acres, to which 
200 acres were added by purchase later. 
Here the father of the family continued to 
reside uinil 1862, when his death occurred, 
and he was buried in the cemeteiy on the 
old Pitman homestead farm. He was one 
of the first representatives of the Methodist 
faith in this section of the county, and 
throughout his life was a conscientious 
worker and very prominent memljer in the 
church, which he assisted in even- possible 
way, giving generously of his means and 
personal efforts. The Pitman family is 
truly entitled to the name of pioneers, for 
\\ hen they settled in Iowa there was but one 
other family in the territory comprising the 
whole I if the present township of West 
Point, and they were compelled to forego 
many of the advantages offered by older 
communities and to make many sacrifices of 
comfort, convenience and personal advance- 
ment. 

The first wife of Lewis Pitman died in 
Kentucky, as did also his second companion, 
tmd it was his third wife who accompanied 
him to Iowa. By his first marriage he was 
the father of three sons, Lindsey Green, 
Granxille and (jrcen, tri all of whom was 
A'ouchsafed long life, the first death of one 
of these three occurring as late as Septem- 
ber 29, 1902, and all were residents of this 
county. By his second marriage Mr. Pit- 



man had one child, which, however, died 
young, and his third wife. Parnielia Love 
Warren, who died in Lee county in 1875, 
was the mother of eleven children, of whom 
four are now living, these being Martha, 
wife of B. R. Essex, a resident of Cali- 
fornia: Minerva, wife of A. Knowles, of 
Iowa; Stephen D., of Van Buren county, 
Iowa, and Eliza, wife of John Bonnell, of 
Fort Madison, Iowa. The founder of the 
family in Lee county was in his political af- 
filiations a Whig, and was a man of con- 
siderable natural gifts, being ven,' successful 
in his business of farming, and being widely 
known as of an energetic and enterprising 
disposition. 

Our subject began his education in his 
nati\-e State of Kentucky, and concluded his 
studies in Lee county, being a pupil in the 
public schools, while at the same time he 
worked on his father's farm and liecame pro- 
ficient in agriculture, as is shown by his later 
success. He remained at home until attain- 
ing his majority, after which he was em- 
ployed for a year as a farm laborer, and sub- 
secjuently worked by the job until the time 
of his marriage in 185 1 to Miss Rhoda 
Whiteaker. Mrs. Pitman was born March 
21, 1831, in \'ermilion county, Illinois, a 
daughter of Jdlin and Dorcas (Campbell) 
Whiteaker, Imth natives of Tennessee, where 
tluN were married and whence they removed 
to Illinois. In May, 1834, they located at 
Augusta, Iowa, building and conducting a 
store at ihrit ])lace until 1842, when they re- 
moved to Jefferson county, and later to Fort 
Madison, Lee county, nmning a store at the 
latter place on the west side of Pine street, 
between Front and Second streets, for a 



338 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



number of years. Later the_\- went to Mis- 
soin-i, but at the beginning of the war be- 
tween the states returned to Fort Madison, 
the father there retiring from active busi- 
ness, and making that city his residence until 
his death, which occurred in 1884, when he 
was eighty-nine years, four months and 
twenty-six days old. He was a man of 
ability, and was widely known. 

After his marriage Mr. Pitman es- 
tablished a home upon the farm of 190 acres 
which he had previously purchased, and here 
he has ever since resided, and by judicious 
management has been able to add to the 
original tract until he now owns 470 acres 
of high-grade farm lands in an admirable 
state of intensive cultivation, a fact which 
unmistakably proclaims the ix)ssession of 
business ability of no mean order. More- 
over, all the improvements which now grace 
this immense farm are of. his own inaugu- 
ration, as it was entirely without buildings 
or other improvements when purchased, and 
the credit is his alone. Among the first 
white inhabitants of this section, to which 
he emigrated when the country was yet a 
desolate and pathless wilderness, he has 
seen the land emerge from primitive con- 
ditions to one of the most favored spots on 
the continent of America, co\'ered with cities 
and \illages, 'churches and schools, furnish- 
ing the necessaries and luxuries of life to 
thousands of residents and pouring forth a 
steady stream of wealth to sustain the work- 
ers of many a distant metropolis and foreign 
land, he has borne a large and important 
part in bringing about these remarkable 
changes, this mar\elous and incomparable 
development, this miracle which has made 



the barren wilderness to bloom and bring 
forth fruit abundantly. 

Unto Mr. and Mrs. Pitman have been 
born three sons and one daughter, as follows : 
John Lewis, who died in infancy; Alice, wife 
of Monri:>e !\larsh, who lives in Pleasant 
Ridge township, Lee county, and has three 
children, William, Bertha and Lucia; Asbury 
Lee. who married Miss Sarah Cloud, and 
has one daughter, Cora, lives with his par- 
ents and manages the farm, and George G., 
will) dieil in infancy. This familv has en- 
joyed all the advantages of a sound Chris- 
tian training, for both Mr. and Mrs. Pit- 
man are consistent adherents of the Metho- 
dist faith, and are members and supporters 
of the Pitman Chapel congregation, whose 
house of worship Mr. Pitman helped to 
build, and which he has always supported in 
a lil)eral manner, contributing to the work 
of the church in all its various branches. To- 
his duties as a citizen he has been no less 
faithful and attentive, taking part in the po- 
litical affairs of county, state and nation as 
a member of the Republican party, whose 
principles approximately represent his views 
of ,\merican governmental science. 

At the present time Mr. Pitman is not 
acti\ely engaged in the pursuits which en- 
grossed his energies during the greater part 
of his life, having relinquished his regular 
occupation a number of years ago, and is 
now living in ease and retirement, as befits 
one of his years and achievements. Mrs. 
Pitman is a gracious lady of pleasing pres- 
ence, and although she suffered an accidental 
injury some eight years since which renders 
it impossible for her to move about without 
the aid of a wheel chair, she has preserved 



LEE COUNTY, lOlVA. 



339 



in the face of misfortunes her accustomed 
clieerfulness of demeanor, and around her 
centers the affection of young and old. Mr. 
Pitman is an example of well-preserved 
physical manhood, and in this connection 
luay be cited a fact of remarkaljle interest 
in regard to the Pitman family: Mr. Pit- 
man's father had eleven children o'f whom 
the oldest and the youngest died in the fall 
of 1846, but from that time until September 
29. 1902, no deaths occurred among the re- 
maining nine, and at that time the aggregate 
of their ages was 657 years, or an average 
of seventy-three years, there being now but 
five living, four hax'ing died within two 
years after the first died in 190J. Mr. Pit- 
man, himself, has now long past the al- 
lotted span of three score years and ten, be- 
ing eighty-six years of age, and the life thus 
prolonged has been filled with success and 
honor, while its latter years find him enjoy- 
ing the respect of all and the friendship of 
many because of his kindly nature and the 
sterling manhood of his character. 



GEORGE A. HART. 



George A. Hart, who follows the trade 
of blacksmith and wagonmaker. at Fort 
Madison, is a native son of Lee county, hav- 
ing been born in Pleasant Ridge township, 
March 26. 1843. He is the son of John 
H. and Phoebe (Thurston) Hart, who were 
married at East Greenwich, Rhode Island, 
and removed to Lee county in 1S39, where 



the father purchased land and engaged in 
farming until his retirement. At that time 
they again removed, going to Denmark, this 
county, and later to Butler, Missouri, and 
there John H. Hart died in 1870, at the age 
of fifty-six years. The demise of his wife 
preceded his, she having passed to the higher 
life in the year 185 1, at the age of forty. 

Our subject is one of a family of eight 
brothers and sisters, as follows: Jane, wife 
of Robert Henr}-, of Mount Ayr, Iowa; 
Thomas H.. of Fort Madison; Ray S., of 
Denmark. Lee county ; George A. ; John T., 
who died in a military hospital at St. Louis, 
in 1864 ; Ariadna, wife of T. F. Whitmark, 
of Lee county; Lorin. deceased; and Lewis, 
deceased. After the death of his first wife 
John H. Hart was again married, this time 
-to Emily Green, who died in 1891, leaving 
three children : Phoebe L. (Root), now de- 
ceased; Manley D. : and Jessie, wife of Frank 
Murphy, of Stronghurst, Illinois. 

The Hart family originally emigrated to 
America from Ireland at an early date, and 
Mr. Hart traces his genealogy through the 
maternal line of Thurston as far back as 
1640. when two brothers of the name settled 
in America, coming from England. 

The patriotic record of the Hart family 
is indeed an inspiring one, and truly extra- 
ordinary. .After acc|uiring a knowledge of 
books in the district school, George A. Hart, 
with four of his brothers, left home at the 
age of eighteen years to aid his country in 
the great struggle of the Civil War, and en- 
listed in company "F," of the First Iowa 
Cavalry, under Captain James O. Gower, 
and Colonel Warren. He was assigned to 
the Seventh Army Corps, and served two 



340 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



years, or from August i, 1861, to July I'l, 
1863. He was engaged in battles at Black- 
water and at Silver Creek, as well as numer- 
ous skirmishes and arduous duty against 
guerrillas or "bushwackers" in southwesterri 
Missouri. His service ended at Duval's 
Bluff, where he was mustered out. 

After returning from the war, I\Ir. Hart 
began acquiring the trade of blacksmithing, 
working as a journeyman vmtil 1868, when 
he established himself in business at Den- 
mark. Here he continued for about twenty- 
five years, with a large measure of success 
and in 1891 he took up his present location 
in Fort Madison. On October i, 1867, he 
was married at Fort Madison to Miss Leo- 
nora C. Burton, a native of Vermont, and to 
them were born four children, one of whom, 
Dorr, is now deceased. The others are: 
Glenn T. ; George Emmet, student of medi- 
cine at Keokuk, and assistant to his father 
during vacations ; and Nellie B., wife of Wil- 
liam F. Moore, of Des Moines county, Iowa. 
Mrs. Hart died November i, 1883, at Den- 
mark, and is there buried. December 28, 
1885, Mr. Hart was married to Miss Ellen 
Young, who was born in Lee county in 
1844, and is a daughter of Lyman Young, 
of New York state. 

In his political faith, George A. Hart 
is a stanch and Inynl member of the Re- 
publican party. Fraternally, he is connected 
with the Grand Army of the Republic, and 
is a charter member of Camp No. 460, Mod- 
ern Woodmen of .\merica, of Denmark. He 
owns his place of business and family resi- 
dence at No. 1005 Second street. By a long 
career of industry, integrity and just and 



generous dealing Mr. Hart has made his 
own way successfully, and has earned for 
himself the respect of a large circle of 
friends. 



W. L. RAY. 

One who has served his nation well, both 
during the dark days of armed conflict and 
in times of peace, is W. L. Ray, of Fort 
Madison. Fie was born in Washington 
county, Iowa, January 16, 1841, the son of 
Archibald Ray, of Ohio, and Tabitha (Cus- 
ter) Ray, also a native of Champaign county. 
Ohio. The parents were married in Wayne 
county, Indiana, where the father was a 
farmer. They are now both deceased. To 
them were born ten children, but only two 
survive — W. L., who is the third child, and 
Mrs. .\lmeda Mason, of ^^'eeping■ Water, 
Nebraska. 

Mr. Ray, our subject, was married in 
1878, at Farmland, Indiana, to Miss Alary 
E. Mills, a native of that place and a daugh- 
ter of Elisha and Barbara (Lever) Mills, 
both iif Indiana. They removed to Red Oak, 
Iowa, where they remained for three or 
four years, at the expiration of which period 
they removed to Fort Madison. Here Mr. 
Ray was appointed by Warden George W. 
Crossley, April 17, 1885, a guard in the 
Iowa State Penitentiary, a post which he 
has filled with honor and ability for twenty 
years. 



I 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



341 



In 1861, when the government at Wash- 
ington was calling for volunteers to crush 
out the great rebellion of the Confederate 
States, Mr. Ray enlisted, on October 2, at 
Mount Pleasant. Iowa, in Ci)nii)any 1). of 
the Fourth Iowa Cavalry, under Coldiiel 
Asbury B. Porter. The part wliich he bore 
in the subsequent struggle was long and 
arduous. A list of the battles in which he 
was engaged is given herewith, and it pre- 
sents a record both remarkable and impres- 
sive. They are : The battle of White River, 
Arkansas ; Tallatt's Ferry, Brown's Ford, 
Mount Olive, Big Creek: Vicksburg", Jack- 
son. Canton, Brownsville, ^lechanicsburg, 
Bear Creek, siege of Jackson, Livingston, 
Big Black Bridge, Baker's Creek, Clinton, 
Ripley. Brice's Crossroad, Harrisburg, Gun- 
town. Tallahatchie. Memphis, Independence, 
Big Blue, Osage Plantation, White's Sta- 
tion, and a number of skirmishes. At Ray- 
mond. Mississippi, May 12, 1863. he was 
wounded, receiving a gimshot wound in the 
left leg, and twelve days later was taken 
prisoner while in hospital. As a prisoner he 
was taken to Parole Camp at Benton Bar- 
racks. Missouri, and he still treasures among 
his most cherished possessions his parole of 
honor, dated May 24. 1863, and signed by 
Christian Foster, surgeon of the Fifty-eighth 
Ohio. He rejoined his regiment October 4, 
1863, at Vicksburg, and was discharged De- 
cember 4. 1864, it being then foreseen that 
the end of the war was near, and that the 
service of the Western armies would be no 
longer required. He served three years, two 
months and three days in the Army of the 
United States, and during that time he never 



used a dose of any medicine, and never suf- 
fered any disability except from the wound 
before mentioned — a fact which indicates 
the possession of great physical powers. 

Unto Mr. and Mrs. Ray have been born 
one son and five daughters, as follows: 
Lena May, born March 8, 1880; Harry L., 
born August 31, 1881, married Miss Edith 
Alvina Little and lives in Fort Madison; 
Myrtle. b(irn June 26, 1883; Mabel, born 
February 18, 1885; Effie Belle, born No- 
vember 6, 1887; and Dora, born March 20, 
1895. 

Mr. Ray, by his honorable course under 
all the circumstances of life, has won for 
himself a place of high esteem in the com- 
munity, and has made friends of all who 
know him well. 



JOSEPH TROJA. 



To record the life and deeds of men who 
ln\-c borne an honorable share in the up- 
l)uilding of county, state and nation is the 
duty and the highest privilege of the his- 
torian. Josei)h Troja. who for manv vears. 
Ins been well known in connection with the 
best interests of his adopted cit}-, was born 
in Westphalia. Germany, on May 4. 1844, 
and there grew to manhood. His father be- 
ing a stock farmer, the young man was en- 
gaged in that work until twenty-two years 
of age. when, in company with his 
brother. Frank Troja, he set out to seek 



342 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



his fortune in tlie new world. Embarking 
on board a sailing vessel at Bremen in the 
year 1866, he landed in New York, trav- 
eled thence westward by rail to Rock Island, 
then by vWer boat to Fort Aladison, where 
he arrived in the early part of July. 

For a short time after coming to Amer- 
ica Mr. Troja was employed in the work of 
farming, but having secured an education 
in his native land of Germany, he shortly 
afterward accepted a position in a hotel, 
Avhich he continued to fill for about a year 
and a half. For this service he received but 
fifteen dollars a month, but at the end of the 
time, l)y rigid economy, had managed to 
save a sum of money approximating $600. 
With this capital he embarked in the grocer\' 
business, forming a partnership with Adrian 
Stolwick, and the arrangement continued 
for two years, at the expiration of which 
time Mr. Stolwick died, and his interest be- 
came the property of John Troja, a brother 
of our subject. Under the firm style of 
Troja Brothers the business was continued 
with success and profit for about fifteen 
years. 

In 1885 Mr. Troja sold his interest in 
the business to his brother and partner, and 
for a time lived retired, but has since been 
engaged in various enterprises. For about 
six years he was connected as proprietor 
with a stone quarry and brickyard in Han- 
cock county. Illinois, just across the Missis- 
sippi river from Fort Madison. In a finan- 
cial wav his ventures ha\e l)rought him ex- 
cellent returns. 

On .April 2, 1S72. -Mr. Troja was united 
in marriage to Miss Margaret Helling, who 



came to Fort Madison in 1855 f''oni the 
neighborhood in which the Troja family re- 
sided in Germany. The ceremony was per- 
formed by Father Hare, also a former neigh- 
bor in the Fatherland. Of this union were 
born twehe children, five of whom grew to 
matiu"ity. These are : Anna, born June 18, 
1S74, wife of William Mansheim, farmer, 
of Washington township ; John, born June 
5, 1879; Louis, born February- 7. i88r ; 
Rena, bom March 7, 1886; Samuel, born 
June 25, 1892. William, another son, died 
in Fort Madison, at the age of twenty-three 
years. His death was caused by accident, 
he having fallen from a wagon. During the 
Spanish-American War he served as a pri- 
\ate. stationed at Jacksonville, Florida. His 
demise occurred April 7, 1900. 

Three brothers and three sisters of Mrs. 
Troja reside in Lee county, namelv : Bern- 
ard. Joseph and William, and Theresa, 
widow of Henry Krotmeyer; Mrs. Henr}- 
Decker and Mrs. Herman Krieger. 

After a study of American political prin- 
ciples Joseph Troja early became a sup- 
IKirter of the Democratic party, and cast 
his first vote for Horace Greeley. He is a 
member of St. Joseph's Catholic church, and 
contributed to the fund raised for the build- 
ing of the [jresent structure. To sum up 
chronologically his connection with the ma- 
terial interests of Fort Madison, he was for 
two \ears engaged in business on Front 
street, the remainder of the time in Second 
street, and his was the first business house 
in Second street with the exceptions of a 
tailoring shop and the Metropolitan Hotel. 
His career has been long, honorable, success- 



LEE COUNTY, lOlVA. 



343 



fill and a credit to the city, and has won him 
the respect of a large niimher of friends and 
acqnaintances. He is in tlie best sense a 
self-made man, and of this he has reason to 
be proud. 



EDWIN URFER. 



One of the rising and better known of 
the younger farmers of Lee county is Edwin 
Urfer* who holds the office of assessor of 
Jefferson townshij). ^Ir. Urfer was bom 
in Jefferson township. September 22. 1877, 
the Sim of Christian and Martha (Ezelle) 
Urfer. The father of our subject is a na- 
tive of Switzerland, but came to America 
as a young man. locating in Pennsyh'ania. 
Desirous of taking advantage of the unex- 
ampled opportunities offered by the great 
West, he removed to this section about the 
year 1845, becoming one of the pioneers, of 
West Point township, Lee county. There 
he married Miss Ezelle, a native of this 
county, and engaged in farming. He 
shortly purchased a farm in Jefferson town- 
ship, however, and here he passed the ac- 
ti\'e j)eri(Kl of his life, and is now li\ing re- 
tired. To Mr. and Mrs. L'rfer was l)orn 
one son, the suljject of this review. They 
were for many years members of the United 
Brethren church, but latterly Mrs. LTrfer 
has become connected with the Presbyterian 
denomination. 

Edwin Urfer was early inspired with 
enthusiasm for learning and knowledge, 
and has enjoyed unusual educational 



advantages. After completing the work 
of the public schools he entered John- 
son's Business College at Fort IMadison 
in order to become acquainted with commer- 
cial forms and principles. Later, he pur- 
sued a course of study at Denmark 
Academ\. He has since supplemented his 
early training by keen observation and wide 
reading, he being the possessor of a large 
and well-selected library, one of the finest in 
the county, both along general and special 
lines. Upon the completion of his schooling 
he was for a time associated with his father 
in the work of the farm. With a view, how- 
e\er, to broadeiu'ng his business experience, 
he purchased a stock of general merchandise 
at Veile, this county, where he at once 
erected a new building and conducted a mer- 
cantile enterprise. Li addition he handled 
agricultural implements c.xtensiveh'. and 
for two years o])erated a well-drilling outfit. 
He continued the successful conduct of his 
business at that place until 1903, when he 
sold it and assumed charge of his father's 
f.arni. In the meantime he had made out- 
side investments which have since proved 
profitable, including a fann of 320 acres in 
Butler county, Kansas, well-improved, with 
good buildings and \ery jiroductive. In the 
work of his father's farm he is meeting with 
his usual success, applying himself to the 
business with energy and assiduity and mak- 
ing a close study of agricultural problems. 

On J;uuiar_\- 10, 1900, Mr, I'rfer was 
united in marriage with Mi.ss Caroline 
Oueisner, daughter of .\ugust Oueisner, of 
Jefferson township, and of this union have 
been born one .son and one daughter, Harold 
and Blanche. 



344 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



In his political affiliations Mr. Urfer is 
a firm and stanch supporter of Democratic 
principles, and one of the intelligent and 
active workers in the party ranks. In 1900 
he was elected assessor of his township, and 
having shown himself a capable public 
servant was re-elected in 1902. The county 
board of supervisors having issued instruc- 
tions for the discovery and assessment of 
property hitherto concealed, Mr. Urfer made 
considerable effort to carry out their wishes, 
and during the four years of his incumbency 
the assessment for Jefferson township was 
larger than ever before. He is a young man 
of ability and integrity, and is generally re- 
spected, and as he is eminently fitted by his 
social qualities and loyaltj' for winning and 
' keeping friends, it seems not too much to 
predict for him a career of honor, usefulness 
and success. 



FRANK J. SCHENK. 



Frank J. Schenk, now deceased, for 
many years a resident of Keokuk, displayed 
in his life record many sterling traits of 
character. He was born in Baden. Ger- 
many. March 9, 1827. and acquired a good 
education in the schools of his native coun- 
try. He entered upon his business career as 
an apprentice to the shoemaker's trade, and 
when he had served his term of indenture 
began work as a journeyman, being thus 
employed in the Fatherland until 1850, 
when, believing that he might have better 
business opportunities in the new- world, he 



crossed the Atlantic and established his home 
in Keokuk, after a brief residence in St. 
Louis, Missouri, where he was married. He 
worked faithfully at the bench for many 
years, or until he was obliged to give up 
his trade on account of failing eyesight. As 
his financial resources increased he made 
judicious investment of his capital, becom- 
ing the owner of farm and cit)^ property, 
the latter including several tenement houses. 
At length he sold this property in order to 
purchase the Central Dry Goods Store, which 
had been established by his son, Frank 
Joseph Schenk. He made this purchase but 
two years prior to his death and left it to 
his widow, who is, therefore, closely asso- 
ciated with commercial interests of Keokuk, 
this being the largest dry goods emporium 
of the city. In. the early days, when the 
canal and locks were being built along the 
Mississippi river, Mr. Schenk conducted a 
shop at Sandusky. Throughout his active 
business career he did repair work, as well 
as made shoes, and he carried a small "Stock 
of ready-made shoes. For three years prior 
to his demise, however, he was ill and un- 
al)Ie to work. 

In St. Louis, Missouri, Mr. Schenk was 
married to Miss Louisa- Camuf, who was 
born in Baden, Germany, and went to St. 
Louis, ^Missouri, in 1852, when fifteen years 
of age. There she gave her hand in mar- 
riage to Mr. Schenk in 1855, and almost im- 
mediately afterward they came to Keokuk, 
where she has since lived. Unto Mr. and 
Mrs. Schenk were born eleven children, 
seven of whom survive, namely : Mary, the 
wife of Peter Kennedy, of Keokuk; Frank 
T.. of this citv: George; Albert, who man- 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



345 



aged the store for about ten years, but went 
west a year ago for his health : Charles, 
Catherine and Margaret. Four children, 
George, Charles, Margaret aird Catherine, 
are in the store. The business conducted 
under the name of the Central Dry Goods 
Store was established by Frank Joseph 
Schenk; was purchased from him by his par- 
ents, and is now the property of ^Irs. 
Schenk, who also owns a half interest in 
the building. Charles Schenk is acting as 
manager of the business. After leaving 
school the sons learned the dry goods trade 
and the establishment is now the leading 
house of the kind in Keokuk, having a very 
large patronage and catering to the best 
class of trade. 

Mr. Schenk never engaged in military 
service, either in his own country or in 
America, being exempt from anny life in 
Germany because of deafness. He had a 
strong attachment for his adopted land and 
her free institutions and rejoiced in both 
local and national advancement. He held 
membershii) in the Catholic church, and 
when he was called to his final rest in No- 
vember, 1893, at the age of si.xty-seven 
years his remains were interred in the Cath- 
olic cemetery. He never had occasion to re- 
gret his determination to seek a home in 
America. Crossing the Atlantic at the age 
of twenty-seven years, he entered upon his 
business career here with little capital, but 
his entire life was characterized by close ap- 
plication and unfaltering energy. This 
proved an excellent basis upon which to 
build success, and while he never became 
weatlthy gained a cosy little home and com- 
fortable competence, and left his widow in 



very pleasant financial circumstances. He 
never sought to figure in public light, but 
was content to give his energies to his busi- 
ness affairs and to the enjoyment of the 
pleasures of the home, and he derived his 
greatest happiness in promoting the happi- 
ness of his wife and children. 

In his political relations he was a lifelong 
Democrat. He was a man who always held 
nut a helping hand to those that were un- 
fortunate. 



HENRY VOIQT. 



Beginning his active career without 
capital, in a new and foreign land, ignorant 
of the customs and e\en of the language of 
the people, and rising by natural talents and 
Unaided personal effort to a position 
of prominence and importance — such is 
tlie historj' of one whose life work 
it is a pleasure to trace and to 
record for the inspiration of future gener- 
ations. Henry Voigt was born in West- 
phalia, Germany, October 12, 1841, the son 
of C. H. and Engel (Marten) Voigt, of 
Prussia, Westphalia, and came alone to the 
United States in 1858 to enter the grocery 
business at Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, with a 
brother, ^^'illiam, who was a prior emigrant 
from Germany and still lives in Pittsburg. 

Mr. Voigt had received a good education 
in his native land, but in order to acquire 
.\merican methods attended a night school 
during the first year of his residence in this 
country, clerking in the grocery store in 



346 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



davtime. He alsn attended lousiness college. 
In this way he made rapid progress, and 
after four years spent with his brother he 
was able to accept a position as bookkeeper 
in the banking house of Ira B. McVeagh & 
Conipanv, with \\'liom he continued for ten 
years. In 1873 he organized, at Pitt.sburg. 
the firm of \^oigt. Ward & Company and 
the Independent Glass Company, of which 
he was partial owner. Lal)or troubles, how- 
c\er. marred the success of the' enterprise, 
which was operated on a grand scale, ha\'ing 
a pay roll of Si, 800 per month. 

Before terminating his residence in Pitts- 
burg Mr. Voigt rose to a prominent position 
in society and politics, as well as in business, 
his name being recorded in the Blue Book 
of Pittsburg for the year .1880, and he hav- 
ing served for three years as treasurer of 
the South Side. He was also urged by his 
friend's to. accept nomination for the state 
legislature, but refused for business reasons. 

Mr. Voigt was married in Pittsburg in 
1869 to Miss Sophia Schultz. who was a 
native of Germany. She died in 1886, at 
Pittsburg, leaving five sons and one daugh- 
ter. The latter. Bertha, is now deceased, 
she ha\ing died at the age of twenty-one 
years, fmn- nidutlis after her marriage to 
William Englert. who also died three 
months later. The sons are: Otto, of Pitts- 
burg; Harry, of ('leveland, Ohio: Arthur, 
of Pittsburg; Arno. of Altoona, Pennsyl- 
x'ania, and Ralph, of Fort Madison. 

The residence of Mr. Voigt in Fort 
Madison dates from 1894, when he came to 
this city at the solicitation of a sister, Mrs. 
Spreen. Having been engaged in active 



Imsiness ever since lea\-ing his father's farm 
at the age of sixteen years, he soon became 
dissatisfied with passing his days in idleness, 
and in order to supply employment for liis 
otherwise unoccupied time he established a 
seed, grain and flour business under the 
name of the Fort Madison Feed Store, 
Voigt's Sons, proprietors. In this enter- 
prise he is financially interested, in associ- 
ation with three of his sons, namely. Otto. 
Arno and Ralph. 

Mr. Voigt makes his home with his sis- 
ter. Mrs. Sophia Spreen, widow of Henry 
C. Spreen, a former soldier and a pioneer of 
Fort Madison. He also has another sister 
living, Mrs. Dora Spreen, of Pittslnirg. In 
iiis religious affiliation he is a member of the 
Evangelical church, and politically he is a 
firm adherent of the principles advocated by 
the Republican jiarty. He is a man of strong 
character and broad ideas, and his energ}-, 
uprightness and genial disposition have won 
him admirers and friends. 



JAMES McQUADE. 

James McOuade, of Keokuk, was born 
in Scotland in 1835. His parents never left 
their native land and in fact were never 
more than ten miles away from their place 
of birth, Wigtown. Tlieir son. John Mc- 
Ouade, has become wealthy through the con- 
duct of a floral business in New Jersey. The 
youngest son of the family is still living in 



LEE COUNTY, IGIVA. 



347 



Scotland. James McQuade spent the first 
sixteen years of his Hfe on the family home 
and during that period attended the public 
schools, acquiring a good common-school 
education. He then bade adieu to friends 
and native land and started for America, 
taking passage on the "Queen of the West,"' 
a s.'iiling vessel, which weighed anchor in 
the harlior of Liverpool and after nineteen 
days spent upon the Atlantic reached the 
harbor of Xew York on the lyth of March, 
1851. The next morning he left for Xew- 
hurg, Xew York, where he had acquaint- 
ances, twenty-five of his fonner school- 
mates lieing in that locality. The succeed- 
ing uKirning he secured a job at shoveling 
snow from the sidewalks and the money 
paid him being so large in comparison with 
what he would have received in his own 
country he thought himself rich. For five 
years he remained at Xewliurg and worked 
for one year on the Hudson river boat, "Co- 
lumbia." as a hand and after that as mate. 
Attracted by the opportunities of the West, 
however, he started for Keokuk and on the 
3d of March. 1857. reached his destination. 
Here he obtained employment in the ma- 
chine sho]) of the Rock Island Railroad 
Company and in 1858 he went upon the 
road as foreman. Soon afterward he was 
promoted U> the ])osition of engineer, in 
which capacity he served for three years and 
then returned to the shops, working as a 
machinist for twelve years. During the 
period of the Civil War he was an engineer 
dispatcher for the Keokuk-Des Moines Val- 
ley Railroad, now a part of the Rock Island 
system. He left the road while receiving a 
salary of one hundred dollars per month at 



the time the line was purchased by the Rock 
Island Company. He then bought ten 
acres of land in the X'^assau addition to Keo- 
kuk and has recently refused $5,000 for this 
propert}-. His time is devoted to the raising 
of small fruits and he has a good business, 
finding a ready sale mi the market for his 
products because of their excellence in size 
and fla\-or. 

Mr. McOuade was married in X'ewburg, 
Xew York, in 1855, to Miss Louise Palmer. 
who was liorn in Dutchess comity, that state, 
and died in Keokuk in August, 1894, her 
remains being interred in Oakland ceme- 
tery. They had five sf)ns and a daughter : 
John, a resident of Tacoma. Washington; 
Samuel, of Keokuk; Alice, who died at the 
age of sixteen years ; Jane, who is living in 
Tacoma ; Charles and Robert, both of Keo- 
kuk. The sons residing in Tacoma are 
longshoremen and are very successful there. 
Both Samuel and Charles are with the Ta- 
bor Company as engineers and Robert is at 
home. 

At the time of the Civil \\'ar My. Mc- 
Ouade enlisted as a member of the Ht^me 
Guard and participated in the battle of Ath- 
ens, ^Missouri. This occurred because of the 
del.'iy (if the trains occasioned by Confeder- 
ate troops. A train was then made up in 
Keukuk and carried the Ihinie Cuard to 
Athens, where an engagement occurred, the 
Home Guard winning the victory. Mr. Mc- 
Quade acted as engineer of that train. Fra- 
ternally he is a member of the Eagle Lodge, 
Xo. 12. Free and Accepted Masons, with 
which he has been identified for over forty 
years and in his life he has exemplified the 
beneficent spirit of the craft. He served 



348 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



both as junior and senior warden in early 
days. He was reared in the faith of the 
Presbyterian church, but is not a member 
of any denomination. As he has saved from 
his wages he has made judicious in\estment 
of his earning in property and he now has 
real estate on Fifth street and also a store- 
room occupied by the Cereal Company, of 
Keokuk. Coming to the United States 
empty-handed he has gradually advanced in 
the business world and all that he has ac- 
quired came to him as the result of earnest, 
persistent effort. 



WILLIAM HARMON. 



One of tlie residents of Keokuk whose 
reminiscences are most valuable in a work 
dealing with tlie iiistorical development of 
Lee county is William Harmon, who was 
torn in Harrison county. Indiana, May 15, 
1830. The family is remotely of German 
origin, l)ut the first member of whom there 
is accurate record is Abraham Harmon, 
who came from Tennessee in the pioneer 
days to Indiana, where he was manager of 
a gristmill owned Iw General William 
Henry Harrison. It is still remembered that 
his instructions were to "take toll from the 
rich and give it to the poor," thus leaving 
no profit for the owner. 

William Harmon's father was John Har- 
mon, who was born at Jonesboro, Ten- 
nessee, May 30, 1807, and died July 13, 
1893. He was reared in Harrison county, 



Indiana, in territorial times, and remem- 
bered the massacre of nine families in his 
neighborhood by the Indians. In 1829 he 
married Miss Stacey Witt, who became the 
mother of our subject. Siie died in the fall 
of 1839, and he remarried, his second wife 
being Miss Butler, whose death occurred in 
Keokuk. He came west in 1841, locating 
in Keokuk, where he took up land on the 
half-breed tract. Indians still occupied the 
\icinity and the settlement consisted of one 
frame liouse and three log houses. His ex- 
perience was wide. Previous to the Civil 
War he served as a soldier twelve years 
under the old military law of South Caro- 
lina, and when General Jackson called out 
the troops to combat threatened secession 
in that state he took the field with his regi- 
ment. In Keokuk he was a member of the 
"Gray Beards," or Thirty-seventh Iowa 
Volunteer Infantry, assigned to post duty, 
whicli was very severe service. Two of his 
sons gave their lives to the Union cause, 
and are buried near the battlefield of Shiloh. 
In 1836 he, with his father-in-law, traveled 
from Indiana to Illinois by three-horse 
wagon, camping on the way. It was a large 
party, and the men of the party walked the 
whole way, taking turns, however, at riding 
one of the horses and driving. Although 
tlien but six years of age, our subject re- 
members the journey distinctly. 

On account of his wife's ill health John 
Harmon built a flatboat, and took his fam- 
ily for a trip down the Mississippi river. 
She failed to improve, however, and died 
six miles below Alton, Illinois, in the Amer- 
ican bottoms. He then revisited Indiana 
for a year, after which he returned to Keo- 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



349 



kuk, and w ith the exception of two or tln"ee 
3'ears' residence in Clark county, Missouri, 
here passed the remainder of his hfe. He 
voted for Andrew Jackson for President of 
the United States, but was in pohtics a \\ hig 
and Republican. He was the oldest meni- 
ber of the First Methodist Episcopal church 
of Keokuk. He is buried in Prouty Mounil 
cemetery. 

When \\ illiam Harmon came to Keo- 
kuk, Lee county was a wilderness. For 
the first year he lived in a primitive 
"shanty." having the bare earth for a floor. 
The family cleared away the forest from 
a tract of land and for a while did some 
farming. In 1845 they removed to what 
is called Prouty's Mound on the banks of the 
Des Moines river, where for four years they 
conducted a ferry. The territorial govern- 
ment required no license for ferrvmen. Ijut 
on the formation of a state government a 
law was passed providing for license for- 
malities, and the privilege which the Har- 
mons enjoyed was secured by a politician, 
thus (Iepri\-ing them of that source of in- 
come. 

Mr. Harmon as a boy conceived an in- 
terest in the statement frecjuently made that 
the American Indians in burying their de- 
ceased warriors and chiefs followed the cus- 
tom of burying with them their arms and 
other valuable possessions. To test its truth 
he, with others, examined many Indian 
graves, and he asserts that the theory is 
evidently without foundation, as no arms 
or implements of any kind were ever found. 
He has also closely observed the floods of 
the Mississippi river, and is convinced, 
though alone in his contention, that the fa- 



mous "tlood of fifty -one" has not since been 
equaletl. Throughout the three weeks of its 
duration he was engaged in rescue work at 
Alexandria. He and his father owned a 
boat, and with this they saved a great deal 
of \aluable jjroperty, often entering houses 
in which water stood shoulder-high, and 
diving to recover household goods. 

July 30, 185 1, Mr. Harmon was united 
in marriage to Miss Sarah R. W'ickham, 
daughter of Slattriel W'ickham. She was 
born near Zanesville, Ohio, March 7, 1832.- 
They are the parents of the follow'ing sons 
and daughters : Mary Ellen, torn April 22, 
1852, died January 22, 1854; Stacey 
Drusella, born January 31, 1854, died 
]\Iarch 16, 1854; Nancy Ann, Ijorn Septem- 
ber 6, 1855, died April 9, 1886; John Wil- 
liam, born September 23, 1857, and Charles, 
liorn March 9, 1861. Both sons live in Keo- 
kuk, occupying homes in the immediate vi- 
cinity of the father's residence at 1820 Oak 
street. 

With his father and brother-iu-Iaw Mr. 
Harmon early purchased a ninety-acre tract 
of land on the Des Moines river in order to 
seciu'e the timber, and later it was cleared 
and cultivated. He sold his share in 1855. 

On March i, 1862. leaving .1 wife and 
three small children to answer the call of 
patriotism, Mr. Harmon enlisted in Com- 
pany E, Seventh Iowa Volunteer Infantry, 
under Captain (afterward Colonel) Parrott, 
and went into camp at Camp Lincoln, Pitts- 
burg Landing. Thence proceeding to Cor- 
inth, he arri\-ed there three days after the 
battle, and at this place he first saw active 
service, taking part in skirmishes. His 
health failed, and for three weeks he was 



350 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



in Monterey Field Hospital, and later in 
Ouincy Hospital. On recovery from his ill- 
ness he was placed upon detached service, in 
which he continued for about eighteen 
months, first coming to Keokuk to join a 
body of loo men detailed to guard the city. 
For a time he was acting sergeant, and fre- 
quently took out squads of soldiers at night 
to guard the fords of the Des ^loines river, 
as Keokuk was menaced by Rebel guerrillas 
antl Southern svmpathizers. This service 
ended, he rejoined the active forces in the 
field, and followed General Shemian in his 
famous march to the sea. He \\as honorably 
discharged March 6, 1865. at Goodwin's 
]\Iill. South Carolina. Imt continued with 
the army for a period of twenty -five days 
thereafter. Although gifted with a fine 
physical constitution, Mr. Harmon still suf- 
fers from the hardships of his army ex- 
perience. 

After the war he was variously employed 
for rather more than a year. He ran a dray 
in Keokuk for four years, having a ten-year 
contract to do hauling for a foundr}-. The 
company for which he worked suffered 
financial failure, but a new company was 
organized, and he secured another contract 
for five years. 

Mr. Harmon nwns a pleasant home in 
town and seventy or eighty acres of island 
land in the Des Moines river — land formerly 
owned by his father. He has retired from 
active pursuits. Although self-educated, 
ne\er having received any schooling, he 
gives much time to reading, and is thor- 
oughly informed on current topics and 
events. In his religious connection he is a 
member of the First Methodist Episcopal 



church, as is also Mrs. Harmon, and has 
been an actixe worker since ante-bellum 
days. He has acted as class leader and 
steward, and having in a marked degree the 
gift of language, formerly was a very suc- 
cessful exhorter. His sons and their wives 
are also members of the church. He is a 
member of Belknap Post of the. Grand Army 
of the Republic. Politically he has always 
been a loyal and consistent Republican since 
the organization of that party. His first 
vote was cast for the Whig candidate for 
President, ^^^illiam Harmon has many 
friends in Keokuk, and no man is more re- 
spected for his earnest Christian character 
and his unwavering fidelity to the right as 
he sees it. 

Mr. Harmon died suddenly while in his 
fields gathering corn, on Friday afternoon, 
November 1 1, 1904. At the time of his death 
he was Keokuk's oldest resident in point of 
continuous residence. 



WILLIAM SHEPHERD. 

W'illiruu Shepherd, one of the widely- 
known and influential citizens of Van Buren 
township. Lee county, Iowa, where he owns 
and operates a fertile farm of 280 acres, was 
born December 17, 1S4J, at Lowhesket, 
Northumberland. England, the son of Wil- 
liam and Mary (Turner) Shepherd, and 
when only seven years of age came with his 
parents to the United States, and proceeding 
directlv to Iowa, located in the Citv of Keo- 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



351 



kuk. Tliere the father, wlio was orig-inally 
a farmer, worked l)y tlie clay for a number 
of years as a well and cistern digger, but 
in 1864 removed to Van Buren township, 
where he purchased 160 acres of land, upon 
which he erected a house, made improve- 
ments and established a home for himself 
and family, while he also bought additonal 
land, so that at the time of his death, which 
occurred in the eighty-fifth year of his age, 
he owned a farm tif 240 acres. He was a man 
of business ability and very popular among 
his neighbors, being several times elected on 
the Democratic ticket to the office of road 
supervisor, hi which he performed valuable 
ser\ice; and in his religious connection he 
was a member of the Episcopal church, as 
was also his wife, whose death occurred two 
years after his own at about the same age. 
They were the parents of seven sons and 
daughters, of whom our subject is the only 
one now living. 

Mr. Shepherd received his education in 
the public schools of Lee county, and dur- 
ing his boyhood assisted in the work of the 
home farm, while at a later period he was 
for several years employed in packing houses 
at Keokuk and Des Aloines, but in 1865 he 
took up farming as an occupation, since 
which time he has operated the farm for- 
merly owned b\- his father. Here he is 
engaged in general farming and more es- 
pecialh- in stockraising, giving particular at- 
tention to Shorthorn cattle, Poland-China 
hogs and I'rench coach horses, with which 
he has had remarkable success, one of his 
horses in particular taking first prize two 
years ago at the Lee county fair. His farm 
is excellently ni;iintained in every respect, 



ami all the improvements have been installed 
liy himself, including good, substantial barns 
and a i)leasant and commodious dwelling 
house. Besides attending with ability and 
careful consideration to the business of his 
farm, Air. Sheplierd finds time to study pub- 
lic (juestions, taking an acti\'e ])art in politics 
as a member of the Democratic party, and 
for the past five or si.x years has served his 
community with imjjartiality and strict fair- 
ness as justice of the peace. In his younger 
days he, for nineteen successive years, held 
the highest office in the gift of his township, 
that of trustee, and today he enjoys the re- 
spect and confidence of his fellow citizens to 
a still greater degree than when he held that 
important position. 

On February 15, 1865, Mr. Shepherd 
was united in marriage to Miss Mary 
Slaughter, who was born in Alsace, France, 
and with her parents came to the L'nited 
States when three years of age, first locating 
in the State of Kentucky and later removing 
to Keokuk, Iowa, where the father died at 
the age of fifty-one years and the mother 
when seventy-se\en years of age and were 
both buried there. Mrs. Shepherd is the 
daughter of .intone and Catherine (Roth) 
Slaughter, both of whom were born in 
h'rance and were, like herself, members of 
the Catholic church. To Mr. and Mrs, 
Shepherd have been born se\'en children, as 
follows: Harr\-, who is a farmer of Van 
Buren township ; James, who is an engineer 
and resides in Montana; Ella, a teacher in 
the schools of Van Buren township, resides 
with her parents; Mamie, wife of Thomas 
Haves, of Charleston township, has three 
children, James, Cecelia and .\gnes; Ger- 



352 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



trude, who is the wife of William Case, of 
Muscatine, Iowa, has one child, Loraine; 
Andrew, who resides at home, and one child 
who died in infancy. 

As an early resident of Iowa, Mr. Shep- 
herd has been an interested witness of nearly 
all the vast and wonderful improvements 
which have marked the progress of Lee 
county from a rude and inhospitable region 
to its present proud position as one of the 
richest farming communities of the Mis- 
sissippi valley, and in this great development 
he has borne a goodly share, as he still con- 
tinues to do. For this and for the honorable 
course he has pursued in all his dealings 
with his fellowmen he has the respect of all 
who know him, and is widely known 
throughout Lee county as a man of marked 
talent for business and agricultural pursuits 
on a large scale and as one who has suc- 
ceeded by his own efforts and ability. 



JONATHAN MERRICK. 

Jonathan IMerrick. who for o\-er thirty- 
four years has been connected with the 
Tabor Lumber Compan)% was liorn in 
Washington county, Ohio, July ii, 1846. 
His paternal grandfather was a native of 
New Jersey, and on his removal to the ^^'est 
purchased a farm in Monroe county, Iowa, 
where he spent his remaining days, dying at 
the advanced age of ninety-three years. His 
son, Seth Merrick, was born in New Jersey 
and after removine to Ohio was married 



there to Miss Margaret McMeckin, a native 
of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. Seth Merrick 
became a mate on an Ohio river steamer, fol- 
lowing that pursuit in early life. In 1858 he 
removed with his family, then numbering his 
wife and six children, to Iowa, settling in 
Lee county, and his remaining days were 
devoted to agricultural pursuits. He died 
upon a farm in Des Moines valley, January 
I, 1902, while his wife passed away on the 
8th of December, 1880. Their children 
were as follows: ]Mar\' C, the wife of 
James Rigney, a farmer of Lee county ; Har- 
riet Emily, the wife of Eli Jaquin, a resident 
farmer of Lee county : Jonathan, of this re- 
view : Harvey, of Macoupin county, Illinois; 
Jared, of Keokuk, and Rebecca Jane, de- 
ceased. 

Jonathan ^Merrick was a lad of twelve 
years when he accompanied his parents on 
their removal to Iowa. His education began 
in the public schools of Ohio, was con- 
tinued in the public schools of this state, and 
he assisted in the development of the home 
farm until 1866, when he started out in life 
on his own account, entering the employ of 
the Tabor Lumber Company, in the sawmill. 
He has remained in this position almost con- 
tinuoush' since, and has been log weighman 
for abmit twenty-se\'en years. For an in- 
terval of three or ionr years, however, he 
was away from the mill and devoted his 
energies to farming, but at the end of that 
time he returned to the mill. His faith- 
fulness to duty is well indicated by his long 
continued service, and his trustworthiness 
stands as an unquestioned fact in his life 
record. 

On the _'4th of March, 1875, Mr. Mer- 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



353 



rick was married in Keokuk. Iowa, to Miss 
Clara Belle Dietz, who was born in this 
city, September 3, 1854, a daughter of Ed- 
ward and Martha (Gray) Dietz. Tier father 
was born in New Albany, Indiana, January 
25, \S23. and his wife, a native of Lexing- 
ton, Kentucky, was Ix^rn December 29, 
1829. They were married in Keokuk, June 
16, 1849, ^"fl became the parents of ten 
children. Further mention of their history 
is made in connection with the sketch of 
Frank Dietz on another page of this work. 
I'nto Mr. and Mrs. Merrick were born five 
children: Maggie Belle, born February i. 
1876, is the wife of A. J. Patterson, a rail- 
way clerk, at Keokuk; Harry Lewis, born 
August 15, 1880, is a farmer; Grace May, 
born September 26, 1892; Edward Seth, 
Iwrn May 5, 1886, and Edith V., born May 
23. 1891, are all at home. 

Mr. Merrick purchased six and two- 
thirds acres of land in the Nassau addition 
in 1898, and in 1900 built thereon his pres- 
ent home. This was the old family home- 
stead and the purchase price was $4,000. 
He has planted the place to small fruit, and 
it is now a very attracti\e and comfortable 
home. Mr. Merrick is a member of the 
Independent Order of Odd Fellows ; has 
filled all of the offices in the suliordinate 
lodge and is now a Past Noble Grand. Fie 
belongs to the Second Presbyterian church, 
in which he is serving as an elder, and in 
politics he is a Republican, but though urged 
many times to accept the position of alder- 
man he has always refused, having no polit- 
ical aspiration, although he is deeply inter- 
ested in the welfare of his party and of the 
general community ;it large. 



WILLIAM L. BARRETT. 

No man is more intimately and vitally 
connected with true progress than he to 
whom is intrusted the training of the com- 
ing generation. In his hands largely rests 
the future destinies of the state and nation. 
It is fitting, therefore, that to such service 
every community should assign its best tal- 
ents — that at the head of the schools should 
be placed those characters which are capable 
of the highest and most intelligent devo- 
tion to the general welfare. William L. 
Barrett, principal of the Fort Madison high 
school, has consecrated his life to the im- 
portant work of education, and for that rea- 
son, and by reason of the zeal and ability 
displayed in his chosen field, he is here en- 
titled to extended mention. 

Mr. Barrett was born at Nevada. Stoiy 
county, Iowa, DecenilTcr 2j. 1870, the son 
of John T. and Margaret (Seabalt) Barrett. 
John T. Barrett was born at Russellville, 
Ohio. July 5. 1842. and died at Kellerton, 
Iowa. September 4. 1900. The date, of his 
marriage to Margaret Seabalt was March 
18, 1869. She died October 30, 1874. She 
is survived by two sons, the younger being 
J. C. Barrett, who is also a resident of Fort 
Madison, and is a guard at the state peni- 
tentiary. The father was remarried Septem- 
ber 14. 1876, to Miss Margaret Silvers, and 
of this union have been born six children. 
Mrs. Margaret Barrett is at the ])reseut time 
a resident of Kellerton. Iowa. 

W. L. Barrett, the subject of this sketch, 
l)egan his education in a district school, but 
his enthusiasm fi>r further intellectual ad- 
vancement led him to enter Drake L'niver- 



354 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



silv. at Des Moines, at wliicli institution he 
matriculated in 1888, and was graduated 
with degree of B. D. S. C. in 1895, after 
having completed two separate courses of 
study, the scientific and the didactic. His 
professional activities since that time have 
Ijeen continuous and nf broad scope. He 
has taught physics and algebra in the Polk 
County Institute ; reading and history in the 
Ringgold Count}- Institute : histor\-, civics 
and econcjmics in Henry county; and read- 
ing, history, grammar and physiology in 
Lee county. He first began teaching in the 
niral schools of Ringgold county, came to 
Primrose, Lee county, in 1893, as principal 
of the graded school, became principal of 
a graded school at Birmingham, Van Buren 
county, in 1896. and came to Fprt Madison 
as principal of the high school in 1899. 

August II, 1902, at Des Moines, Iowa, 
]\Tr. Barrett was united in marriage with 
Miss Bertha E. Lightfoot, daughter of Amos 
Lee and Ella (Grommon) Lightfoot, of Fort 
Madison. Mr. and Mrs. Lightfoot were the 
parents of six children, five of whom sur- 
vive, as follows : Charles A. and William 
T., of Chicago; Edwin Lee and Benjamin 
H., of Fort Madison ; and Mrs. Barrett, who 
w^as born in Delaware county, February 27, 
1876, and at the time of her marriage -was 
a teacher in the eighth grade of the Fort 
Madison schools. She is a graduate of Fort 
Madison high school, and has attended the 
State Xormal School at Cedar Falls, the Ep- 
worth Seminary at Epwortb, Iowa, and Iowa 
Wesleyan University at Mount Pleasant. 
For four years she was a teacher in rural 
schools, and for two years taught sixth, sev- 
enth and eighth grades in the Fort Madison 
schools. 



Mr. Barrett is descended of ' Revolution- 
ary ancestry through the maternal line and 
the family name of Silvers. The Barrett 
family was originally Irish, the founders of 
the American branch having been three 
brothers who emigrated from Ireland to- 
gether. The line of descent has been traced 
in imbroken succession to them. 

Mr. and ]\Irs. Barrett are members of 
the Christian church, and Mr. Barrett is 3- 
member and very active worker in the Young 
Men's Christian Association, being one of 
the directors of the organization. Strong 
in his individuality and earnest of purpose, 
he is peculiarly adapted to work of this na- 
ture, and his sterling character and talent 
for leadership are qualities that seem des- 
tined to carry^ him to distinction, and per- 
haps to eminence, in the field of education. 



ROBERT LANQE. 



One of the most progressive fanners 
and influential citizens of Green Bay town- 
shi]i is Robert Lange, who is a representative 
of a well-known pioneer famil\'. Mr. Lange 
himself is a native son of the township, but 
his father and mother were of German birth, 
lioth ha\ing been born in Prussia. His nataf 
day was October 4, 1854, and he is the son 
(if Harmdu and Christina (Batthalt) Lange, 
who, in order to profit by the superior re- 
sources and environment of the New World, 
emigrated from their native land and settled 
in Green Bay township, Lee county, in 1852. 
Here the mother still lives, at the age of 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



355 



eiglity-three years, and here tlie fatlicr spent 
the remainder of liis life. He was enter- 
prisnis;-. progressive and successful, and was 
iiighly esteemed for the substantial virtues 
of his character by all who knew him. 

Roliert Lange secured his education in 
tlie public schools of his towTiship, and as 
a boy and young man learned farming un- 
der the direction of his father. On Septem- 
ber 25, 18S9. he was united in marriage to 
Miss Ellen Miller, who was born at Ijur- 
lington. Iowa. He then rented a farm on 
what is known as "the bluff." in this town- 
ship, successfully cultivating it for a period 
of eight years, at the end of which he pur- 
chased his present farm of 155 acres, and 
has since resided here. This farm consists 
of rich bottom lands, and is in a high state 
of ailtivation and thoroughly well developed. 
It has undergone man\- improvements since 
]iassing to the ownership of Mr. I.ange. The 
house, which is ver\- commodious, has been 
remodeled, and new barns and other build- 
ings have been erected to accommodate the 
products of the fertile soil, and all the equip- 
ment is modern throughout. 

To !Mr. and Mrs. Lange have been born 
nine children, one of whom died in infancy. 
Those Hving are: Carl A. R.. Harry F. H., 
Caroline C. L.. RolDcrt P. E., Herbert J. A., 
Edna M. A.. Nelson L. A., and Arthur P. 
F. Mr. Lange enjoys a gratifying measure 
of popularity and public favor. He has held 
the office of road supcr\isor. and in igoi 
was elected tiustee of (ireen Bay township. 
an office in which his business ability proved 
valuable to his constituents. Fraternally, he 
is a member of Independent Order of Odd 
Fellf>ws. of \\'e\er. After a careful stiulv 



of questions of government and jiolitics he 
early decided to support the Democratic 
[)arty. as nKJSt nearly embodying his ideal 
of .\merican principles of liberty and justice, 
and to this allegiance lie has ever since been 
unwaveringly loyal, his work in the ranks 
lieing recognized as of much benefit to the 
local organization. As one enjoying a high 
reputation. for honor, integrit}' and complete 
grasp of ])ractical questions, his service and 
inlluence ha\'e been particularly \aluable. 



WASHINGTON NEWBERRY. 

Washington X^ewljerr\-. a noted resident 
of Des Moines township, Lee county, where 
he has long followed the occupation of farnv 
ing with much success, was born in the same 
township where he still maintains his home, 
August 13, 184S, a son of James W. and 
b^dith A. ( Renedict ) Xewlierrv. The New- 
berry family is identified with the foundingf 
of the tiiwnship. and from tlie beginning has 
taken a prominent part in its affairs. It has 
contributed ;i number of ])romincnt and in- 
fluential characters to the citizensbi]) of Lee 
county, and its name has always been high. 
Washington Newberry has worthily sus- 
tained that name, and lived an upright and 
honorable life. 

The subject of this sketch was given a 
common-school education, bevond which very 
few young people went at that time, and re- 
mained at home until he reached the age of 
t\\ent_\--t\vo years. .\t that age be took 



356 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



charge of his father's farm in Scotland 
county, Missouri, which he partly fenced. 
There he broke seventy acres of raw prairie, 
and was there for about three years, when 
he returned to Des Moines township. Here 
he married, and settled on his present farm 
property, consisting of eighty acres, the 
southeast quarter of section 8, and also 
twenty acres of timber in the west part of 
the township. He is a general farmer, but 
gives his attention mainly to stockraising, 
in which he has met with very satisfactory 
results. 

Mr. Newberry was married December 
24, 187^, to Miss Ella F. Washburn. She 
was born November 7, 1854, in Des Moines 
township, a daughter of Stephen S. and Me- 
lissa H. (Sprott) Washburn. Her father 
was born in Leeds county, Canada, and came 
into Iowa Territory in time to be classed as 
one of the very early pioneers of Lee county. 
Melissa H. Sprott was a daughter of Jaiiies 
and Annie Sprott, who came from Pennsyl- 
vania and settled near Keokuk in 1845. Her 
father bought land and became prominent 
and influential. He was called "Colonel 
Si)r(itt." and was a member of the legisla- 
ture at one time. Mrs. Newberry remem- 
bers him as coming in a buggy and a "stove- 
pijie bat" when she was a little girl. He 
came to their house in a buggy, a thing then 
very seldom seen ; and wearing a "plug hat," 
another rarity. He brought blooded sheep 
into Lee county, and did much to improve 
the general stock level at that time. The 
family came from Pennsylvania by the river 
route. 

Mr. and Mrs. Newberry have two sons : 
Arthur Devere, who graduated from the 



Keokuk College of Physicians and Surgeons 
in 1898, and is novy practicing his profes- 
sion in Kingston, Iowa. He is a man of 
imposing physique, stands six feet and two 
inches in his stocking feet, and weighs 325 
pounds. His appearance is fine, he makes 
a good impression, and is commanding a 
large practice. Their other son, Van Wer- 
den Clark, is station agent of the Santa Fe 
Railroad at Argyle, Iowa. He married 
Miss Jessie Marshall, a daughter of John 
Marshall, of Fort Madison, who was an 
early settler in that city. To this union has 
come one child, Lloyd Devere, who was born 
August 31, 1904. 

Mr. Newberry is a man of fine stand- 
ing, irreproachable character and personal 
popularity. He is quiet in his ways, re- 
liable in all his transactions, and is known 
as a good citizen. 



JOSEPH E. NEWTON. 

A prominent and ]irosperous citizen, a 
natix'e son of Lee county, and at the same 
time one who lias witnessed the growth of 
the State of Iowa from a wild and s])arsely 
inhaljited region to its present magnificent 
proportions, is Joseph E. Newton, of Pleas- 
ant Ridge township. ]\Ir. Newton was born 
August 13, 1842, on the farm on which he 
now resides, and is the son of Orson New- 
ton, of Vermont, and Harriet (Bullard) 
Newton, of Massachusetts, who celebrated 
their marriage in this township. Orson 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



357 



Newtdii came to Lee county in 1836, and 
staked off a claim of 160 acres of wild land, 
which he later entered as a "homestead," and 
continued to occupy for the remainder of 
his life, clearing the land, adding improve- 
ments, and working his way upward in the 
world until he, together with his son, our 
subject, at one time owned 750 acres of fine 
agricultural lands, most of this being located 
in Adams county, Iowa. When he emigrat- 
ed from his natixx state, in 1836. and set- 
tled in Pleasant Ridge township, his entire 
possessions consisted of fifty cents in cash 
and an ax. but with dauntless energ}- and 
iron will he set out with this small capital 
to win for himself a recognized place among 
his fellowmcn, .nnd in this he fully suc- 
ceeded, achieving a position of prominence 
and influence and being many times hon- 
ored by calls to serve the public in responsi- 
ble capacities, among these being the office 
of trustee of his township. In ixilitics he 
was a \\'hig and later a Republican, and was 
prominent in both parties, while in his reli- 
gious connection, to which he was ever faith- 
ful, he held membership, in the Congrega- 
tional church of Denmark, and he took a 
special interest in the public schools of his 
community, which were largely under his 
care and direction during the greater part 
of his life. The comforts of life he ])rovided 
for his family without stint, as far as lay 
within his power, and the residence building 
now occupied by his son was erected by him 
in 1850, although since enlarged and re- 
modeled along modern lines. He died in 
July, 1894, at an age of more than eighty- 
two years, and his wife was laid by his side 
in the Denmark cemetery three years later at 
the age of seventy-seven. 



Mr. Xewton paid $1.25 jier acre for 
160 acres in 1836, borrowing money for 
which he had to pay 25 i)er cent. One-half 
of it was timber land. 

_K>seph E. Newton, who is at the present 
time the only surviving member of his fath- 
er's family of three sons and two daughters, 
received in his early youth a good common 
school education, which he has • since en- 
larged by extensive reading, and at the same 
time he was thoroughly trained in the prin- 
ciples and practice of agriculture, acquiring 
knowledge and proficiency by personal ex- 
perience, so that while yet a young man 
he became, like his father, a successful far- 
mer, and to this occupation he has devoted 
his entire life, pursuing it as a trade and as 
a business. He now owns 290 acres of most 
productive farming land, which is operated 
under his direction, and this yields him a 
large annual return, and among the improve- 
ments installed by him is a substantial barn, 
just erected, which is forty by fifty feet in 
dimensions, while all the buildings are taste- 
fully painted and in an excellent state of 
repair. He has all his life been a resident 
of the farm which he now occupies, and, 
taking a natural pride in maintaining it in 
the most perfect condition, has given quite 
a little attention to its external appearance, 
his house, especially, being surrounded by 
beautiful and attractive grounds. 

\\'hcn .Mr. X'ewton was ten years of age, 
his lather one day brought in a large hollow 
log to place in the tiro-place, and in the log- 
was a large blacksnake which the father 
killcvl with an old-f.-ishioned shovel ten feet 
long. 

In 1869 Mr. Newton was united in mar- 
riage to Miss Mary Anderson, who was born 



358 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



in tlie City of New Yorl<. a daughter of Julm 
and Sarah Anderson, natives of Scotland. 
Mrs. Newton came to Biudington, Iowa, in 
1863, Init her parents remained in New 
Yori<. and never removed to the West. She 
is a pleasant lady of fine Christian character, 
and is a faithful member of the Baptist 
churh at Burlington. Iowa. Unto Mr. and 
Mrs. Newton have Ijeen born one daughter, 
Hattie. and one son, Joseph Orson, \\ho 
both remain members of the parental house- 
hold. • 

Wiiile Mr. Newton has always been a 
practical farmer, he has also made a study 
of the subject on its theoretical side, and 
has been three times elected general superin- 
tendent of the West Point Agricultural So- 
ciety, and has been a director of the society 
since its formation, an office which he still 
holds. On the other hand he has not taken 
a narrow or contracted view of life, and 
while giving due weight to his own special 
calling, he has always manifested a willing- 
ness to perform the duties which devolve 
upon him as a citizen, and is widely known 
as one of the leading Republicans of Lee 
county, ha\ing been an active and helpful 
worker in that party for many years, as in 
his o])ini()n the ijest way of jiromoting the 
cause of good government. He has never 
activelv sought pulilic office, but has rei)re- 
sented his community a number of times in 
county conventions, and for a period of four 
years had the supreme direction of the Re- 
publican partv"s organization in this section 
as chairman of its townslfip committee, a 
capacity in which he performed much ^alu- 
able service and displayed executive ability 
of a high order of efficiency. Indeed, it 



may be said of him that in every relation of 
life in which he has been called upon to play 
an important part, he has proved himself 
equal to the occasion, and that while as a 
public character the pages of his record are 
fair, stainless and inspiring, the history of 
his pri\-ate relations with men is one of un- 
failing honor, uprightness and strictest recti- 
tude — an ideal mode of life which has made 
him rich in the friendship of many and the 
respect of all. 



RICHARD VANOSDOLL. 

Prior to the great Civil War, which 
claimed the sacifice of his life, the subject of 
this review. Richard Vanosdoll. was a well- 
known agriculturist of Montrose township, 
Lee county. Iowa, where he owned a small 
farm. He was born March _m. 1823. in 
Pennsylvania, of which state his parents 
were also' natives, and was undoubtedly of 
Dutch lineage, a descendant of those early 
settlers from Holland, to which the great 
commonwealth owes so much of its wealth 
and s])lendid material prosperity. He early 
emigrated to the West, in order to take 
advantage of the opportunities offered by 
the rich country, which was then almost un- 
occupied, becoming a pioneer of Lee county. 
Iowa, and on October 10, 1850, he was 
united in marriage, the exact location lieing 
four miles north of Montrose, to Miss Emily 
Wilson, Rev. David Crawford, of the Meth- 
odist Episcopal church, performing the cere- 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



359 



mony. To Mr. ami Mrs. Vanosdoll were 
born three .sons and two (laug"l:ters, as fol- 
knv.s : John L.. of Montrose; William 
Henry, who died in chiklliood, Juh- 24, 
1853; Clara B.. wife of Charles .\llen. of 
Montrose: Charles, and Sophia R.. who died 
January 5, 1894. at the age of thirty-one 
years. 

At the opening of the Civil War .Mr. 
Vanosdoll believed it was his duty to join 
the forces whieli were to fight the battles of 
his country, and enlisted in Company A, 
Thirteenth Regiment Iowa \'olunteer In- 
fantrA'. as a pri\-ate soldier. While in the 
field he was seized with the dread disease 
known as chronic diarrhcta, and was as- 
signed to the hospital at Keokuk. Iiut while 
on his way to that place he died, April 26, 
1863, and was l)uried at ^lilliken's Bend, 
Arkansas, where his remains rest. He was 
a man of mijch force of character, and was 
esteemed by all who knew him for his gen- 
erous and genial disposition, and was uni- 
versal!)' respected for the uprightness and 
strict integrity that characterized him in all 
his dealings. 

The death of her husband left to Mrs. 
Vanosdoll the sole care and support of four 
small children, and although the responsibil- 
ity was in no sense a light one, she accepted 
her trust in a spirit of true Christian forti- 
tude, and performed lier new duties with 
energy and determination. Selling the farm 
home she removed to the village of Mont- 
rose, where she gave her children the Ijest 
of home training and the inestimable ad- 
vantage of a good education, thus fitting 
them to cope with the problems of life in 
what.soever sphere they might find them- 
selves called upon to labor, and in this vil- 



lage she still resides. She was liorn in 
IV'inisyhania, l'\-bruary 7, 1834, the daugh- 
ter of John and Rebecca ( Walker ) Wilson, 
and with her parents first removed to Ten- 
nessee, coming to Lee county when about 
eleven or l\yel\e years of age. Here her 
lather bought l;nul and farmed in Montrose 
townshi]), and he died on the home farm, 
February 28, 1849, while the mother died 
in the village of Montrose. Two. brothers 
of ]\Irs. Vanosdoll were soldiers of the Ci\'il 
War, the.se being Walker and Harry W^il- 
snn. now of !\bintrose. She is a devout 
and faithful wurker in the .Methodist E])is- 
copal church. t(^ whose support she gen- 
erously contributes, and is a charter member 
of the Montrose Lodge, Daughters of Re- 
bekah, and also a chater member of the 
Woman's Relief Corps, in the history of 
\\Ii(_ise work in this coniniunity she holds 
an honored place. She receives a widow's 
pension from the United States government, 
and owns a comfortable home in Montrose, 
where she spends her declining days in com- 
])arative ease, and although she has accom- 
plished more than the her share of artluous 
and useful work during a long life, she is 
surprisingly well preserved for one of her 
vears. 



EUGENE Q. BULLARD. 

.An enterprising business man of Fort 
Madison is Eugene G. BuUard, proprietor 
of the Gen City Livery. A native son of 
Lee county, he was born in Jefferson town- 
shij). three miles west of this city, July 24, 



360 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



1863, the son of James Bullard, Sr., now 
deceased. James Bullard, Sr., was the son 
of Theophilus Bullard. of Virginia parent- 
age, and was born in Jacksonville, Morgan 
county, Illinois, May 22, 1825. He traced 
his genealogy through various, families of 
England, Ireland and Germany, who com- 
bined to produce a race having many ad- 
miraljle traits of character. Two of his 
grandfathers, by name James Bullard and 
Thomas Armstrong, were soldiers of the 
War of 1 8 12. The former, at the close of 
the war, settled on a farm in Brown county, 
Illinois, where he spent the remainder of his 
life. Thomas Armstrong was a master me- 
chanic, and erected many iron furnaces and 
forges near the place of his residence in Ten- 
nessee. 

Theophilus Bullard, father of James 
Bullard, Sr., was a millright, and built his 
first mill in Morgan county, Illinois, on the 
Mor\ester creek in 1S24, supposed to 
have been one of the first mills in Illinois. 
He was a volunteer soldier in the Black 
Hawk War, serving all through the Indian 
troubles, and at the end of the war removed 
with his family to Burlington, Iowa, arriv- 
ing March 12, 1834. He acquired five 
farms in the Black Hawk Purchase, and was 
the first justice of the peace in that section, 
wiiile Iowa was yet a territory, holding the 
office twenty-five years. He also made the 
first local survey in this part of the country. 
The date of his birth was March 17, 179S. 
He married, at Nashville. Tennessee. Lucy 
Armstrong, who was of Virginia birth and 
[larentage. 

James Bullard, Sr., was the second child 
of the family. He was educated in the pub- 
lic schools, and remained at home until his 



marriage, in Jefiferson township, of which, 
in passing, his father was one of the organ- 
izers. He married Miss Sarah A. Wallace, 
who was born in Northumberland county, 
Pennsylvania. June i, 1834, and came to 
Iowa with her parents when a young 
woman. Of this union were born seven 
children, only two of whom survive, these 
being Robert Rolio, a farmer, of Green Bay 
township, and Eugene G., the subject of this 
sketch. Mrs. Sarah A. Bullard, the wife 
and mother, died June 25, 1884. She was 
a consistent and faithful member of the 
Baptist church. Mr. Bullard was a success- 
ful farmer and stock breeder, and lived in a 
beautiful home, located on a 300-acre farm 
of fertile jMississippi bottom lands. He 
was universally respected, and had many 
friends. In politics he was a stanch Dem- 
ocrat. 

Eugene G. Bullard : The subject of this 
review was reared on a farm, and received 
his education in the public schools. Not 
content, however, with the learning thus 
gained he resolved to pursue a course of 
practical investigation into modern business 
methods, and with this object in view at- 
tended Johnson's Business College, at Fort 
Madison — with what success his subsequent 
career has amply shown. For a number of 
years he was associated with his father in 
the livery business in this city. On his 
father's death, in February, 1896, however, 
he assumed sole charge of the enterprise, 
and has continued in this capacity ever since, 
with the exception of two years spent in 
farming. He is the proprietor of the build- 
ing and equipment, valued at $9,000. He 
also owns the old home farm of 160 acres 
in Jefiferson township, which he rents, and 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



361 



is interested in the New York Gray Silver 
Mine, in Park county, Colorado, and in the 
Comstock, Le Roy, Big Chief and Cody 
mines, in Lake county, Colorado. 

On Januan,- 25, 1893, Mr. BuUard was 
united in marriage to Miss Mary M. Fin- 
nerty, and they occupy a pleasant home at 
Xo. 403 Second street. Unto them have 
heen l)orn two sons and two daughters, as 
follows: \^elma E., horn February 4, 
1894; James Everett, born September 16, 
1895; Patrick Le Roy, horn May 3, 1897; 
and Naomi Jane, bom August 9, 1902. 
Mrs. Bullard is a native of Jefferson town- 
ship, the date of her birth being January 21, 
1 87 1, and she is the daughter of Peter Fin- 
nerty, a native of Galway, Ireland, and 
Jane (Shay) Finnerty, born in Cleveland, 
Ohio. Mr. Finnerty died in June, 1887, at 
the age of forty-eight years, and Mrs. Fin- 
nerty has since remarried, being now the 
wife of a Mr. Newberry, and residing at 
Ouincy, Illinois. Mrs. Bullard has two sis- 
ters, Anna L., wife of Theophilus Bullard, 
and Cecilia J., wife of Dr. Wahrer. She is 
a member of St. Joseph's Catholic church 
and of the Ladies' Auxiliary-. 

In his political faith and activities Mr. 
Bullard is a Democrat, and fraternally he 
sustains membership relations with the 
order of Knights of Pythias and with Clay- 
l)oole Lodge, No. 13, Free and .Vccepted 
Masons ; also being in the Masonic order, 
a Knights Templar. He has many friends, 
and is a man of marked exccuti\'e ability, 
progressive and enterprising. It is .safe to 
predict, in the light of his past achievement, 
that for him the future holds much success 
and honor. 



GEORGE W. TUCKER. 

One who for many years has been iden- 
tified very prominently with the agricultural 
interests and the public life of Lee county 
is George W. Tucker, the subject of this 
re\-iew. lie was bom in Dearborn county, 
Indiana, June 13, 1855, and is the son of 
John W. and Sarah (Spicknell) Tucker, 
who were married at Lawrenceburg, In- 
diana, and came to Lee county in 1857, pur- 
chasing land in Green Bay township, where 
they continued to reside until the father's 
death, June 29, 1893. Sarah Tucker sur- 
vived her husband a number of years, her 
demise occurring in March, 1903. 

Mr. Tucker is one of a familv of five 
brothers and three sisters, as follows ; 
Richanl, who has his home in the State of 
Kansas; George W ., Charles C, of Green 
Bay township, Lee county; William H., an 
engineer, of Hannibal, Missouri ; Nettie, 
now deceased, who was the wife of Scott 
Littell; Kate, wife of James Scott, of Bur- 
lington ; Emma, widow of Lee Cadwallader, 
a former teacher in the high school of Fort 
Madison, and Frank, a farmer, of Green 
Bay township. 

George W. Tucker received a good com- 
mon-school education, but in order to 
further prepare himself for the successful 
business career which has since been his, 
he entered Pearson's Business College, at 
Fort Madison, and pursued a course of com- 
mercial study. In 1876 he began farming, 
believing that in this field of endeavor He 
rich rewards for those who conduct their 
efforts with energy, care and the scientific 
application of business principles. His ex- 



362 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



pectations have been fully justified, in his 
own case, at least, by the e\ent, as his vig- 
orous prosecution of the enterprise has 
brought him much material prosperity. 

Mr. Tucker is well known and liked 
throughout Lee county, and this popularity 
caused him, in 1897, to be elected to the 
office of sheriff, in which he continued suc- 
cessfully for four years. He also acted as 
deputy sheriff for a period of two years, 
and has held most of the of^ces of his town- 
ship. On his election he removed to Fort 
Madison, where he has since resided, hav- 
ing purchased a home at 411 Second street. 
He still retains, however, his agricultural 
interests in Green Bay township, where he 
owns 500 acres of land, which he rents. 
In addition he holds title to some valuable 
property in the City of Fort Madison. 

At Burlington, Iowa, June 13, 1876, 
Mr. Tucker was united in marriage with 
Miss Clara Miner, a lady of Germ;m ex- 
traction, who was born May 12, 1855, in 
Des Moines covmty, this state. Unto them 
have been born six children, as follows : 
Etta ]May, wife of Herman Lange. of Green 
Bay township: Charles C, of Fort Madison, 
who married Miss Elsie Badley; Susie, wife 
of Charles S. Tucker, an engineer, of 
Blackwell, Oklahoma: John W., of Fort 
Madison, who married Miss Josephine 
Schlemer: Nathan J., and Frankie Kate. 
John W. and Charles C. are engaged in 
the hardware and implement business in 
this city, and are meeting with gratifying 
success. 

Mr. Tucker is now living retired from 
active business life enjoying the well-earned 
fruits of his labors. He still maintains, 



howe\er, active connection with the various 
social and fraternal bodies in which he 
holds membership, and is a valued factor in 
their affairs. These are : The Independent 
Order of Odd Fellows, the Benevolent and 
Protective Order of Elks, Knights of 
Pythias, Modern Woodmen of America, 
and the Forresters. In politics he has al- 
ways given hearty and loyal support to the 
Democratic party, believing that its prin- 
ciples are best calculated to secure the gen- 
eral welfare in harmonv with the spirit of 
American institutions. Personally he is of 
a genial and generous disposition, and these 
characteristics, together with his uprightness 
and justice in all his dealings, have made for 
him many friends. 



BENDIX REIMERS. 



One citizen of Keokuk, who is especially 
entitled to mention in any work which claims 
to comprise those who have rendered valu- 
able service to city, state or nation, is Ben- 
dix Reimers, the subject of this sketch. He 
was born July 10, 1826. in Holstein, Ger- 
man}-, and is the son of Marx and Margu- 
rita Reimers, who both died in Holstein. 
There was a family of seven children, but 
only one other of these came to America, 
This was George, who was for some time in 
the grocery business in Keokuk, but is now 
deceased. 

Mr. Reimers early exhibited a spirit of 
patriotism, and for three years took part in 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



363 



the war of his native land against tlie Danes 
as an artillenman. operating in Jutland and 
Schleswig. Much of this fighting was of the 
most severe character, it heing related that 
on one occasion Mr. Reimers's liattery was 
engaged in continuims action for two days 
and nights. Six }ears after the conclusion 
of his military service the longing to try his 
fortunes in the new world led him to em- 
bark for America. Landing in New York 
in 1857. he came direct to Jackson town- 
ship, Lee county, Iowa, where he located, 
six miles from Keokuk, and pursued the 
business of farming for five years. 

Then came the call of liis adopted coun- 
try for defenders against rebellion and trea- 
son, and Mr. Reimers, a second time in- 
trusting him.self to the fortunes of war, en- 
listed, August, 1862. in the Nineteenth Iowa 
Infantr\', Company A, under Colonel 
Bruce, and went into camp at St. Louis. 
Among the more important engagements 
and campaigns in which he took part were 
the siege of Vicksburg, the battles at Mobile, 
Prairie Ciro\e or Fayettc\ille. Arkansas, Van 
Buren and Sterling plantation. .\t the lat- 
ter ])lace he was captured by the enemy and 
was taken as a prisoner to Tyler, Texas, 
where he remained for six months, suffering 
great hardships, from the effects of which 
his constitution has never fully recovered. 
The regular ration of the Union prisoners 
was but a pint of corn meal per day, and 
they were utterly without shelter from 
weather and storm until, after much labor, 
they were able to build a few miserable huts 
of brush and bark. At length the prisoners 
were taken to Shreveport, I^ouisiana, on 
their way to some other point to be ex- 



changed, hut the execution of this ])lan was 
slow, and Private Reimers, with two others, 
escajx^d from custody at that place, and 
started, during a heavy rainstorm to work 
their way back to the Union lines. Relying 
on a i)ocket compass for guidance, they trav- 
eled through the swamps for several nights 
and days, often compelled by the presence of 
Confederate pickets to go into hiding and to 
deny themselves food and drink, and often 
losing their way. Finally, however, by rep- 
resenting themselves to be Texas troopers, 
they secured food at a plantation and learned 
the location of the Rebel troops. Thus en- 
abled to avoid danger, they came up with 
a colored regiment of Union cavalry, which 
they accompanied on an expedition up the 
Red river, and Mr. Reimers rejoined his reg- 
iment at Brownsville. Texas. By this ex- 
ploit he saved himself many weary weeks of 
captivity, as his comrades at Shreveport 
were not released until four months later. 
.\fter a short stay at New Orleans he ac- 
companied his regiment to Mobile, where he 
was located until the end of the war. 

In all his experience of war, Mr. Reimers 
was never wounded, and received but one 
assignment to hospital, which occurred at 
Springfield, Missouri, lasting one week. He 
was mustered out of his countrv's .service 
July 10, T864, at Mobile, Alabama, and re- 
ceived his discharge at Davenport, Iowa. 
He then returned to Lee county, and worked 
by the month until he had acamiulated the 
sum of $1,500. when he purchased a farm of 
forty acres, near Keokuk, where he resided 
for about ten years, at the end of which 
time he removed to this citv. It was dur- 
ing this time that he was united in marriage 



364 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



to Mrs. Anna Schilling, and to them ha\e 
been born five sons and daugnters, as fol- 
lows : Marx, who is a letter carrier in Keo- 
kuk ; Mary ; William, who is employed in 
a meat market in this city; Bendix, em- 
ployed in a shoe factory; Anna and Eva. 
The children of Mrs. Reimers's first mar- 
riage are Louise, who lixes at home, and 
Bertha, living in Misosuri. 

Mr. Reimers holds membership in Tor- 
rence Post of the Grand Army of the Re- 
public, and was connected with the Grange 
when it was in existence at this place. He 
is a member of the Lutheran church, and in 
politics has given his support to the Repub- 
lican party ever since coming to America. 
He is a self-made man. and what he has of 
worldly goods has been acquired by his own 
efforts and ability. For this he deserves 
the highest credit. 



HENRY GEORGE HAESSIG. 

Henry- G. Haessig, the well-known cigar 
manufacturer, of Fort Madison, Iowa, is a 
native son of Lee county, having been born 
in this city December 16, 1866. His father, 
George Haessig, was born in Germany, and 
came at an early date to Fort Madison, 
where he was a contractor and builder, and 
attained a degree of prominence in the city's 
affairs. In politics he was affiliated with 
the Democratic party, and for two terms rep- 
resented the tliird ward in the city council. 
He was a member of the Lutheran church. 



The mother was Christiana (Rhode) Haes- 
.'^ig. Both parents are now deceased. Unto 
them were bom, besides the subject of this 
sketch, seven sons and one daughter, as fol- 
lows : George G., Charles, \\'illiam, Ed- 
ward, who died September 6, 1904; Albert, 
Otto, Oscar, and Amelia. 

Henry G. Haessig was educated in the 
public schools of Fort Madison, and in 188 1 
entered the cigar factory of L. B. Reader, 
in whose employ he continued for sixteen 
years, or until 1897, when he l>ought the 
cigar manufacturing business of Charles 
Jones, and has since conducted the enter- 
prise independently. In this venture he has 
met with very gratifying success. 

August 13, 1889, Mr. Haessig was mar- 
ried to Miss Pauline A. Meyers, of Fort 
Madison, and of this union has been born 
one child, a daughter, Margaret, her natal 
day being December 30, 1895 ; two daugh- 
ters died, Marie and Catherine. 

In fraternal affairs Mr. Haessig has 
taken an acti\-e part, being a member of 
Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, 
of Fort Madison Commercial Club, and of 
the local Cigar Makers' Union. Of this lat- 
ter body he was one of the organizers, and 
for eight years was its treasurer. In poli- 
tics he has always given his support to the 
DenK)cratic party, and for one term ser\-ed 
his township as its clerk. He was one of 
the organizers of Company F, of the Iowa 
National Guard, in 1887, and was at that 
time appointed a corporal, later attained the 
rank of sergeant, and at the time of his 
resignation in 1894, was captain of the com- 
pany. 

The factory, where nine workmen are 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



365 



continuously employed, is located at 835 
Second street, and the pleasant and commo- 
dious home of the family is at 1034 Second 
street. Mr. Haessig is one of the most 
active younger business men of the city, 
taking a leading part in all progressive 
movements, and while these qualities are 
bringing him personal success and adding 
to his popularity in a marked degree, they 
are at the same time a powerful factor in 
building up the material prosperity of the 
community. 

Mrs. Haessig was born in Fort Madison 
August 3. 1867, a daughter of John B. and 
Catherine E. (Pliesser) Meyers. Both were 
born in Germany and as young people came 
to Fort Madison, where they were married 
and here resided till their deaths. For many 
years their home was at 1034 Second street, 
which, was erected hy tliem in 1867. Mr. 
Meyers died July 21, i8'85, and Mrs. Meyers 
passed to her rest July i. 1889. They were 
members of St. Man,''s Catholic church. 
They were the parents of six children of 
whom only Mrs. Haessig and Louis B. 
Mevers now survive. 



THOMAS H. DONNELL. 

Tlmnias 11. DDnnell, a well-known 
farmer of Charleston town--hip, was born on 
the farm on which he now resides, the date 
being September 15, 1861. He is the son 
of William .\. Donnell, a native of North 
Carolina, and Celestia (Hamilton) Dunnell, 



wIk; was born in New York. As a lx)y Wil- 
liam .\. Donnell, father of our subject, re- 
moved with his parents to Illinois, and in 
1838 he came to Iowa, and entered 160 acres 
of government land. This tract he increased 
bv means of further purchases, becoming one 
of the most extensive landholders of this 
section of Lee county. Among his holdings 
was the site of the present village of Don- 
nellson, whicli he himself platted in 1871. 
In the business of farming he was eminently 
successful. His political affiliation was with 
the Republican party, and he was verv' pop- 
ular throughout the county, being for a num- 
ber of years county supervisor, and holding 
the office of trustee and other minor posi- 
tions. He took a great and intelligent in- 
terest in public affairs, and was esteemed 
for his ability and integrity. He was. a 
member of the Cumberland Presbyterian 
church. Mr. and Mrs. Donnell were the 
parents of four sons and four daughters, as 
follows: Jane, deceased; Laura, deceased; 
George, now a resident of Melbourne, Iowa; 
Philo, deceased; Ida, wife of William Ben- 
jamin, of Donnellson; John, of Mount Pu- 
la.ski, Illinois; Thomas H., our subject, and 
one child who died in infancy. 

Thomas H. Donnell received his educa- 
tion in the public schools of his district, and 
while growing to years of maturity learned 
the work of the farm by actual experience of 
its duties. He has always resided on the 
farm on which he was born, and in 1890 he 
became its owner. 1 lore he conducts general 
agricultural operations and makes a specialty 
of stockraising, giving particular attention 
to Shorthorn cattle and Shropshire sheep. 
Keeping onl_\- small herds, he strives for 



366 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



high quality, and has received various pre- 
miums for his exhibits at county fairs. The 
farm consists of i6o acres of fertile lands. 

In 1881 Mr. Donnell was united in mar- 
riage to Miss Emma Spilkey, who was born 
ill Illinois, and to them have been born two 
daughters, Ethel and Orion. The family 
occupies a very pleasant home, in which they 
are surrounded by the material comforts and 
many of tlie lu.xuries, and it is a center of 
hospitality for many friends. Mr. Donnell 
is a firm believer in Republican principles 
and a stanch supporter of that party's poli- 
cies and chosen leaders, but has never cared 
for public office, though he enjoys wide pop- 
ularity. By choice he devotes nearly all his 
time to agricultural pursuits. He has, how- 
ever, served a number of terms as super- 
visor, and has been elected whenever nom- 
inated. He holds membership in the Mod- 
ern Woodmen of America at Donnellson, 
and has borne a prominent part in the af- 
fairs of that order. He is a man of much 
business ability, and by the exercise of his 
natural talents has achieved success and at- 
tained to an important station in the com- 
munitv in which he lives. 



GEORGE W. JUDY. 



One of the leading farmers of Jefiferson 
township and one known thrdughout the 
county for his ability, social qualities and 
sterling character is George \V. Judy, the 
subject of this sketch. He was born in 
West Point townshi]), this county. May 27, 



1851, the son of Henry and Elizabeth Em- 
mett) Judy. The father, who has the dis- 
tinction of being the oldest living pioneer of 
Lee county, still li\-es on the original farm 
that he purchased from the government in 
1834. He was born in Ohio, and as a young 
man came to the West, locating at Fort Mad- 
ison when there were only four families at 
that place. When the government holdings 
of land were thrown open to settlement he 
purchased the first tract of 160 acres at $1.25 
an acre. This he improved and from time 
to time added other purchases until he now 
owns a half section of land. He underwent 
all the hardships incident to pioneer life, 
and is entitled to much credit for the part 
he has played in the development of natural 
resources in Lee county. As illustrating the 
lack of adequate transportation and the re- 
moteness of market facilities in the earlier 
days, he recalls that he has hauled dressed 
pork to Keokuk by wagon and that he re- 
ceived for his load only $1.25 per hundred- 
weight. Indians occupied the countr}' in 
places at that time, and he remembers having 
frequently seen the celebrated chief Black 
Hawk. He married Miss Harriet Cooney, 
daughter of Dr. Cooney, a pioneer physician 
and owner of a ranch near Franklin. His 
second wife was Elizal^eth Emmett, daugh- 
ter of George Emmett, of \\'est Point town- 
ship. In politics he has been a Republican 
since the formation of that party. He has 
lived continuously in Lee county longer 
than anv other person now living, although 
Captain Washington Galland was here for 
some time before him. .\t present he re- 
sides on the home farm, and is in his eighty- 
eighth year. 

George ^^^ Judy rcceixed during his boy- 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



367 



hooil and youtli a good practical education 
througii the medium of the public schools, 
and learned the lessons of faithful applica- 
tion to duty in the work of his father's farm, 
in which he continued until attaining his ma- 
jority. He then rented land, and began 
farming on his own account. In this ven- 
ture he was so successful that in 1876 he 
was able to buy a farm near \^eile, in Jef- 
ferson township. This he occupied for 
twenty years, making important improve- 
ments, and in 1896, desiring to extend his 
operations, he purchased his present hold- 
ings of 160 acres. Here he engages in gen- 
eral farming and in stockraising, special- 
izing somewhat, however, in the raising of 
sweet potatoes and melons, and has attained 
a very substantial measure of financial suc- 
cess. He has made improvements in the 
condition of the farm since purchasing, hav- 
ing planted a large orchard of carefully se- 
lected fruits, modernized the house and 
erected a large barn for storage purposes. 

On March 14, 1872, Mr. Judy was united 
in marriage to Miss Lucinda Ann Hart, 
daughter of Jacob and Sarah (Dukes) Hart. 
Mr. Hart is a native of New York, but as 
a child removed with his parents to Penn- 
sylvania, and later in life he settled in Jef- 
ferson township, where Airs. Judy was born. 
To Mr. and Mrs. Judy have lieen born nine 
sons and daughters, as follows : ( ieorge 
Thomas, who is in the ex])ress business in 
St. Louis, Missouri; Sarah Elizabeth, wife 
of Charles .\rthur, of Plymouth, Illinois, has 
two children, Helen and George; Cora A., 
wife of \\'^illiam P>rown, of Montrose town- 
ship, has one child, Raymond L. ; Laura. 



wife of Victor Griswold, living near Harri- 
son, Arkansas, has one child, Lloyd; Frank, 
a farmer, of Jefferson township; Joseph, 
John Logan, Charles G. and Roy Allen, 
who are at home. 

Mr. Judy is a lifelong Republican, and 
has ser\ed that party frequently as delegate 
to important conventions. For some years 
he has also acted as chairman of its township 
committee, hut has never lieen himself an 
aspirant for public office. He was formerly 
connected with the Independent Order of 
Odd Fellows, but has allowed his member- 
ship to lapse. He attends and supports the 
Presljyterian church, of which Mrs. Judy is 
a member. He is enterprising, public spir- 
ited and a believer in progress, and his in- 
fluence and activities have been valuable to 
the community in which he lives. Gifted 
with a capacity for friendship and a jilcas- 
ing personality, devoted to strict integrity 
and eminently just in all his dealings, he 
has won for himself the general respect and 
made man\' friends who prize his kindly re- 
gard. 



JOHN W. TUCKER. 



Although but a recent addition to the 
business and conimercial forces of b'ort 
Madison, John W, Tucker is i)roving him- 
self a factor to be reckoned with in fore- 
casting the future prosperity of the city. 
Mr. Tucker was liorn in Green Bay town- 
shi]), [,ec county, (Vtober _m. 1878, the son 



368 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



of George W. Tucker, of this city. He was 
educated in the common schools of his town- 
ship, and also attended Johnson's Business 
College, at Fort Madison. During the in- 
cumbency of his father, George \^^ Tucker, 
as sheriff of Lee county, John \\ . Tucker 
served two years as turnkey and two years 
as deputy sheriff, and later served a further 
two }ears as deputy sheriff under Sheriff 
John AI. Kenney. 

In 1904 he, with his brother, Charles C. 
Tucker, purchased a half interest in a vehicle 
and implement business which had been 
established in Fort Aladison the previous 
year, and in this connection he still con- 
tinues. The style of the firm is now Tucker 
Brothers. 

On October 10, 1900, Mr. Tucker was 
united in marriage with Miss Josephine E. 
Schlemer. and they have their home at No. 
205 Second street. Mrs. Tucker is a native 
of Fort Madison, the date of her birth be- 
ing April 5, 1882, and is the daughter of 
Henrv' and Mary (Kern) Schlemer. The 
mother died November 22, 1902, and is 
buried in Fort Madison. Henn* Schlemer, 
father of Mrs. Tucker, is an attorney of this 
city. Three sisters, Elizabeth, Minnie and 
Carolyn, remain at lionie. 

Mr. Tucker is a member of the Inde- 
pendent Order of Odd Fellows, in which he 
lias occupied offices of honor, having passed 
all of its chairs, and is in his political views 
and associations, a Democrat. He is a 
young man of promise, and is rapidly acquir- 
ing that reputation which rewards energ}', 
integrity and alertness to the demands of the 
times. 



CHARLES DOERR. 

A prominent representative of that val- 
uable class of citizens known as Ger- 
man-American is Hon. Charles Doerr, 
of Fort Madison. Mr. Doerr was born 
in the duchy of Nassau, Germany, 
January 13, 183 1, and there received 
the thorough training that fitted him 
for his later successes in business and public 
life. Enthusiasm for knowledge and learn- 
ing carried him through the public and high 
schools with credit, and gave him an educa- 
tion well-grounded and fully rounded, and 
as a provision against unforeseen circum- 
stances he learned the trade of stonemason. 

He is the son of Philip and Katherine 
(Tresbach) Doerr, the father being also a 
stone worker — a master mason. The family 
came to America in March, 1851. stopping 
in New York, and in the autumn of that 
year removed to Vermont, where father 
and son plied their trade. At Shaftsbury, 
that state, occurred the death of Katherine 
Doerr, mother of our subject, in 1852, and 
she is there buried. She is survived by one 
son and one daughter, the latter being 
Jeannette, who was married to John Koehler, 
and after his death Ijecame the wife of 
George .\nthes, liut is again a widow. She 
resides in Minneapolis, Minnesota. 

Coming to Fort Madison in 1855, 
Charles Doerr, in partnership with his 
fatiier. began the liusiness of building rail- 
road bridges, whic4i they carried on extens- 
i\ely antl with success for two years. Then 
in March, 1857, he forsook the hammer 
for the pen, and became a copyist, doing this 



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CHAkLKS G. OOEKK 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



371 



Avork at tlie court house until i860, when he 
was appointed deputy county clerk. Two 
years later, in recognition of his talents, in- 
tegrity and ability, he was elected by the 
Democratic party as county clerk of Lee 
county, and in 1864 was re-elected to the 
same office, Init was "counted out" by a 
technicality. In June. 1866, he was reap- 
pointed county clerk, and this was followed, 
in the fall of the same year, Ijy another re- 
election to the office, and this, in turn, Ijy a 
repetition of the honor in 1868. On the ex- 
piration of his term as county clerk he pur- 
chased, in 1871, a ferry line across the Mis- 
sissippi river, which he operated for six 
years, when he sokl it and entered the real 
estate business, in which he still continues. 
He was not permitted, however, to remain 
in political retirement, and in 1884 was 
called to represent Lee county in the legisla- 
ture, serving through the Twentieth General 
Assembly of Iowa with distinction. Further 
lionors awaited him, and in 1885 he was ap- 
pointed by President Cleveland postmaster 
of Fort ^Ladison. His other public trusts 
include the office of justice of the peace, to 
which he was elected in 1895, and which 
he still holds, and his membership in the 
school board for a period of twelve years. 
In addition he is probably tiie oldest notary 
public in the State of 'Iowa, having acted in 
this capacity continuously since 1858. 

Mr. Doerr was married at Fort Madison 
on .\ugust 20, 1857, to Miss Katherine 
Magerkurth, who was born at Kindenheim, 
Rhenish Bavaria. April 30, 1837. She came 
to America when thirteen years of age. 
L^nto them were born nine children, as fol- 
lows : Emma, who died at the ixirc of three 



and one-half years; Charles P., manager and 
\ ice-president of an electric lighting com- 
pany of Aguascalientes, Mexico; Jeanette, 
familiarly known in the family as Nettie, 
who is at home; Edward, who was a min- 
ing engineer in the City of Mexico, and died 
October 4, 1904, at San Antonio, Texas, 
while on his way home from Mexico; Philip 
O., who died March 24. 1900, at thirty-two 
years of age, and who was a contractor for 
freight transportation in Mexico; Albert, 
a mining engineer at Asientos, Mexico, hav- 
ing spent four years in the school of mining 
at Freiberg, Germany ; Kuno, with the 
American Smelting and Refining Company, 
of Aguascalientes, Mexico; Elsie D., wife 
of Dr. C. L. Bennet, of Aguascalientes, 
Mexico, and Katherine, who is at home. 
The wife and mother died December 2. 
1899, and is interred in the city cemetery of 
Fort Madison. The death of Mr. Doerr's 
father occurred February 21, 1899, he pass- 
ing away at the age of ninety-one years and 
six months. 

Mr. Doerr, in his fraternal relations, is 
a member of the Blue Lodge, the Chapter, 
the Commandery and the Mystic Shrine of 
the Masonic order, and has been an Odd 
Fellow since May 6, 1854. In his religious 
faith lie is a member of the Evangelical 
Lutheran church, ^^'ith the development 
and progress of Furt Madison his pul)lic 
spirit has placed him in intimate connection 
throughout the greater part of his life. He 
has erected a number of residence buildings 
in the city, and also was the builder of Con- 
cordia Hall, for thirty years the principal 
opera house. He has owned considerable 
property hero, but recently disposed of the 



Zl'-i 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



major portion. He has still, however, a 
number of investments in Mexico. The hfe 
of Hon. Charles Doerr is one more illustra- 
tion of the truth that "America means op- 
portunity," and that the best prizes of for- 
tune are for those who strive conscientiously, 
uprightly and with fixity of purpose. 



JOHN BENNETT. 



John Bennett is an honored veteran of 
the Civil War who, for fifteen years, has 
been unable to engage in work on account 
of ill health, brought on by his army serv- 
ice. He was born in Clark county, Indiana, 
May 2, 1844, a son of James A. and Sarah 
\. (Howard) Bennett. The father was 
born in Charleston, South Carolina, and is 
still living at the advanced age of eighty 
years, but the mother died in 1900. Both 
lived with their son, John. Their children 
were as follows: Missouri, the wife of Dr. 
A. Rogers, of Kansas City, Kansas; John, 
of this review; Lizzie A., who became the 
wife of Robert A. Junk, and died in 1902, 
and George B., who was drowned while 
swimming in the Mississippi river, in 1892. 

John Bennett was a lad of ten summers 
when his parents removed from Indiana to 
the \icinity of Augusta, Illinois, and there 
he was reared upon a farm, until 1856, 
when the family home was established in the 
vicinity of Bentley, Illinois. There John 
Bennett assisted in the cultivation of his 
father's farm until the spring of 1861, when 



he enlisted as a member of Company F, 
Fourteenth Illinois Cavalry, and he was 
afterward transferred to the United States 
navy on the steamship "Silver Lake," ply- 
ing on the Mississippi, Ohio and Tennessee 
ri\-ers and took part in several naval en- 
gagements on the first named. He was 
wounded in the head by a gunshot at the 
battle of Shiloh, and also wounded in the 
right hand. He took part in many of the 
engagements along the Tennessee, was also 
at Vicksburg, Mississippi, the main duty be- 
ing to guard the river. \\'hen his three 
years' term had expired Mr. Bennett re-en- 
listed in 1864, becoming a member of Com- 
pany I, One Hundred and Forty-fifth In- 
diana Infantry, with which he served in the 
Army of the Tennessee until the close of the 
war. He was with Shermaii in the At- 
lanta campaign, participated in the battle 
of Chattanooga, and was mustered out at 
Louisville, Kentucky, after which he re- 
turned to Augusta, Illinois, with an honor- 
able militan- record, for he had been a brave 
and fearless soldier. 

The same year Mr. Bennett came to 
Keokuk, where he conducted a grocery 
store for about three years. He afterward 
worketl in an e.gg and butter house for a 
time, but was at length obliged to abandon 
his position on account of ill health, and 
for the past fifteen years has been connected 
with no business enterprise. He draws a 
pension of thirty dollars per month. 

]\Ir. Bennett is a member of Torrence 
Post, No. 2, Grand Army of the Republic, 
and belongs to the Baptist church, with 
which he has been identified for thirty-five 
years. In his political views he is a Repub- 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



373 



lican. He owns a home at No. 1526 Car- 
roll street, and has been a resident of Keo- 
kuk almost forty years. He has ever been 
interested in public progress as well as local 
advancement and througlnuit his entire life 
has manifested the same spirit of loyalty 
and patriotism which he disjilaxed on 
Southern battlefielils. 



WILLIAM MULLIKIN. 

Men of marked ability, forceful charac- 
ter and upright purpose leave their impress 
upon the world written in such indelible 
characters that time is powerless to obliter- 
ate their memory, or sweep it from the 
minds of men. The force of their example 
spurs others to emulation, and what they 
have accomplished is an inspiration to those 
who come after them, while their sterling 
virtues live on forever in the hearts of those 
who have known and loved them, and is 
cherished in the annals of the community 
in which they lived and labored as faithful 
citizens. 

William Mullikin. who was for a long- 
term of years one of the leading landowners 
and representative agriculturists of Lee 
county, was a native of Indiana, the date of 
his birth being July 5, 1843, and by the 
death of li<itli his parents he was left an 
orphan at a very early age. He was reared 
by a Mr. Peter Cuddeback, of near Mont- 
rose. Lee count)', and there he grew to man- 
hood and received a common-school edu- 



cation. While yet (juite young he decided 
to begin his career by striking out into orig- 
inal paths of endeavor, and went to Cali- 
fornia, where he engaged in farming and 
cither enterprises for two years, acquiring, 
by his al)ility thus early manifested, enough 
money in that short space of time to enable 
him on his return to Lee county to purchase 
a farm of eighty acres in Montrose town- 
ship. Shortly after his return he was united 
in marriage, in Septemlier, 1864, to Miss 
Mary Jones, who was born in Youngstown, 
Ohio, June 7, 1846, and. came to Lee county 
at an early day with her parents. Mrs. Mul- 
likin is the daughter of Clement Jones, a 
successful farmer, and Lenity (Bostic) 
Jones, both now deceased, the father dying m 
in i860, and being interred in Montrose 
cemetery, and the mother, whose death oc- 
curred in 1887, being buried near Dumas, 
Missouri. They were excellent people, 
highly esteemed in the communities in 
which they lived, and generally respected 
for their many virtues. 

To Mr. and Mrs. Mullikin were born 
twelve children, of whom now survive five 
.sons and two daughters, as follows : 
Charles, who married ^liss Pearl Brickley, 
is engaged in the grocery business at 
Springfield, Missouri, and has one daughter, 
Clara Belle; Ora, widow of James Doyle, 
has two sons. Earl and William; Laura, 
wife of John Renwald. of Keokuk, has six 
children, Raleigh, William. Mary, Clarence. 
Paul, Lawrence; William, who is a farmer 
in Montrose township, Lee county, married 
Miss .Anna Wirtz. and has three children, 
Xellie, Clara, Gladys ; Wilkinson, who mar- 
ried Miss Agnes Hassett. resides in Keo- 



374 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



kuk; Clarence, who married Miss Alida Ver- 
mazen, is a resident of Jackson township, 
Lee county ; Ida, who is the wife of Charles 
Lupton, of Kansas, has three children, Nor- 
man, Elizabeth, Myrtle; Nellie, wife of 
Phillip Glazier, of Keokuk, has one child. 
Raymond, and Grover, the youngest mem- 
ber of the family, is a student in the public 
schools of Keokuk. 

Mr. and Mrs. Mullikin resided on their 
farm in Montrose township for some time 
after their marriage, Imt later removed to 
another farm near the village of ]\Iontrose, 
where they continued to make their home 
for a number of years, and there Mr. Mul- 
likin acquired, by industry, care and the ex- 
ercise of business tact and foresight, about 
600 acres of very valuable land. In 1886 
he purchased a farm of 141 acres in Jackson 
township, to which the family returned and 
there resided until Mr. IMullikin's death, 
which occurred in February, 1902. ]\Irs. 
Mullikin removed to Keokuk in April, 1904, 
and now considers this city her home. Mr. 
Mullikin gave almost his entire attention to 
farming, although he for a time bought 
live stock extensively, and shipped to east- 
ern points. He was very successful in all 
his efforts, and besides his large real estate 
holdings in Montrose and Jackson townships 
he acquired 320 acres of land in Missouri, 
and a tract of 173 acres in Illinois. The 
manner of his death was peculiarly sad, and 
one which was a terrible shock to the family 
and ti) the comnnuiity, which honored him 
for his great ability and his upright char- 
acter: it was. in effect, almost beyond the 
shadow of doubt an assassination. He was 
sitting in his own home at half past eight 



o'clock in the e\ening, when a shot was fired 
from the darkness through the window, tak- 
ing effect in the brain, and death was almost 
instantaneous, he having expired before 
Mrs. Mullikin, who was with him in the 
room, could reach his side. No clew to the 
identity of the perpetrator of this awful and 
cowardly crinie has ever been successfully 
followed, although the widow does not 
abandon hope that in time full justice will 
be done, and this is a hope in which she is 
joined by all who have at heart the fair 
name of the community. 

Mr. Mullikin was a man of large and 
generous nature, and was very public spir- 
ited, and while he never aspired to public 
office, he was not the man to shirk civic 
responsibility, and for a time served as a 
member of the school board, in which capac- 
ity his good judgment and practical grasp 
of affairs were of much value to his con- 
stituents. Politically he gave his support to 
the Democratic party, and was one of its 
most highly esteemed members, both on ac- 
count of his wide influence and for his ac- 
tive co-operation. In his fraternal rela- 
tions he was prominently connected with 
the Masonic Order for many years, being 
a member of Joppa Lodge, at Montrose, and 
his obsequies were conducted according to 
the lieautiful and impressive ritual of the 
order, the funeral being attended by a large 
and distinguished concourse of citizens 
prominent in Masonic circles throughout 
southern Iowa. .\s he was universally re- 
spected for his achievements and fiir the 
shining virtues of his character, so also was 
he universally mourned, and his loss was 
deeply felt by all who knew him. He was 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



375 



laid at rest in Hickory Grove cemetery. To 
his children he was ever indulgent, and to 
his wife a kind and devoted husband, al- 
ways making her truly a partner in his af- 
fairs and profiting by her advice and coun- 
sel in almost all matters of importance in 
which he engaged throughout the term of 
their wedded life, and the wistlom of this 
course was amply vindicated by the success 
which attended everything he did. 



WILLIAM COLVIN. 



William Colvin. a venerable resident of 
IMontrose township, has his farm home on 
section 35, of that township, where his 
home has been for more than forty years, 
beloved and respected In- his friends and 
neighbors, alike for his modest character, 
genuine worth, industrious habits and kind 
heart. As a link he binds the remote past 
to the living present, and from his childhood 
days recalls visions of Revolutionary heroes, 
Indian fighters, shadowy figures on a 
painted canvas, but greatly daring and nobly 
winning, in the storm periods of the mak- 
ing of the West and Northwest. 

Mr. Colvin was born in Lincoln county, 
Kentucky, August 6, 1826, a son of Joseph 
and Nancy (Turner) Colvin, natives of Vir- 
ginia, and born and bred to a farming life. 
They died before the Rebellion in Kentucky. 
To their union were born thirteen cliildren, 
of whom William was the fourth in order 
of birth. He is now their only living child. 



Mr. Colvin was married in 1847 ^^ 
Miss Katherine Van Arsdall, a native of 
^Mercer county, Kentucky, where she was 
born December 12, 1830. Her father, John 
Van Arsdall, was born in Virginia, where he 
was reared to farming. With his wife, 
Mary \Vesterfield, he came west to make 
his home in Montrose township, Lee county, 
where both he and his good wife passed to 
their rest some years ago. They were the 
parents of a family of seven children, of 
whom Mrs. Colvin was the third in order of 
birth. She has four brothers living: Wil- 
liam, Charles, Smith and Alonzo. To Mr. 
and Mrs. Coh'in have come nine children, 
two of whom are now dead; Melissa is the 
wife of Austin Wright ; Amanda is the wife 
of John Boyd, a resident of Montrose town- . 
ship : Mattie married William Grimes, and 
is now dead; Green married Aliss Lucy 
Rice, and has his home in Fort Madison; 
Mary married Z. Boyd. ;uul is now dead; 
Sadie is the wife of Frank Davis, and with 
her husband, has her home on the old home- 
stead; Nannie is the wife of Robert Grimes, 
a resident of Montrose townshii). There 
are twelve grandchildren and imc great- 
grandchild in the family, so that a numerous 
progeny perpetuates this honored name. 

William Colvin owned a small farm in 
liis nati\e state, but after his marriage sold 
it and came into Lee county in 1854. For 
some three or four years he lived on Mont- 
rose Bottoms, but in i860 came to his pres- 
ent home, where he owns ninety acres of 
land, on Lemon Lee creek, a stream fed by 
springs, amply sufficient the season through 
for all stock watering, and similar puqxises. 
W'hen he secured this handsome farm there 



376 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



was already constructed a small cabin, 
which he replaced some five years later by 
a commodious and attractive house. Here 
for many years Mr. Colvin and his good 
wife have lived, honorable and worthy peo- 
ple, . anxious only that they may do what 
good they can in the place where the Author 
of their being has placed them. They ha\e 
courted neither the applause nor the favor 
of men, only seeking to be honest and 
square. They have been lifelong members 
of the Christian church, of Summit\ille. and 
their deeds have brought no blush to their 
profession. In his more active years he has 
filled a number of local positions carrying 
considerable responsibility, such as road 
supervisor and school director, anrl every- 
thing entrusted to him was well done. In 
politics he has taken the Republican side, 
and generally acted with that party, though 
not in any sense a zealous partisan. He is 
now in his seventy-ninth }-ear, and is still 
hale and hearty. If the necessity arises he 
is sure he could still do a day's work. As 
it is he does what he wishes and keeps a good 
appetite. 

An uncle of Mr. Colvin, one Charles 
Colvin. serxed in the Revolutionary \\:\\\ 
and is well rememliered by the subject of 
this sketch. The uncle was a bachelor, and 
he would visit at the home of his lirother, 
and when there would take his little nephew 
on his lap and tell him such horrible stories 
that the little chaj) was afraid to go tto bed. 
Along with this was a wealth of Revolution- 
:\y\ lore that would be of vast value if it 
coulfl now l)e recalled and preserved to the 
world. 

The golden wedding of this modest and 



unassuming couple was celebrated with 
enthusiasm on August ii. 1897. It was a 
surprise very cleverly managed by the chil- 
dren. The old folks were spirited away for 
a time, and when they returned to their 
home it was in possession of a numerous 
company, who had come bearing congratula- 
tions and numerous gifts of golden lo\-e, 
such as a gold watch for the father, gold 
spectacles for the mother, and many similar 
gifts. Friends had spread a fine repast, and 
among those present to enjoy it were not 
only the local friends, but those from Keo- 
kuk, and many other places as well. Peter 
Colvin. a minister from California, and a 
nephew of the aged husband and father, was 
fortunate enough to be present at this rare 
event. 



CHARLES C. TUCKER. 

One of the A'ounger Ijusiness men of 
Fort ^ladison who is achieving a position 
of prominence is Charles C. Tucker, who is 
a ilealer in farm imi)lements. hardware and 
\ehicles. Mr. Tucker is the son of George 
W. Tucker, a sketch of whose life appears 
elsewhere in this \'olume. and was born on 
a farm in Green Bay township. Lee county, 
October 22, 1874. After completing his 
education in the public schools he assisted in 
the work of his father's farm until his mar- 
riage, when he rented land, and conducted 
farming operations independently until 
1900. when he removed to Burlington. 
There he, in association, engaged in the sale 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



Z77 



of buggies and agricultural implements iov 
a period of two years, at the end of whicii 
lime he located in Fort Madison, establish- 
ing himself in the enterprise which he still 
conducts. 

December 2^, 1895, Mr. Tucker was 
united in marriage with Miss Elsie Badley. 
Mrs. Tucker was born in Green Piay town- 
ship. May 10, 1874, and is the daughter of 
Uriah Badley, now a resident of Burling- 
ton. Her mother is deceased. 

Mr. Tucker's political afifiliation has al- 
ways been w ith the Democratic party, and 
fraternally he is a member of the Independ- 
ent Order of Odd Fellows. Thoroughly 
imbued with the spirit of modern enterprise 
and progress, and endowed with the talent 
for making and holding friends, his pathway 
to succcess seems clear and assured. 



WILEY B. RAY. 



Wiley B. Ray, proprietor of a livery- 
stable in Keokuk, was born at Knoxville, 
Tennessee, October 25, 1833, his parents 
being William and Harriet (Parmer) Ray. 
His grandfather, \\'il]iam Ray, was reared 
in Virginia and went to eastern Tennessee 
with the first white settlers, assisting in 
driving out the Cherokee Indians, anfl re- 
claiming the wild land for the uses of civili- 
zation. He was a frequent companion of 
Daniel Boone in his hunting expeditions, 
and on one occasion when they were out in 
the Indian country together, they built their 



campfire against a log and also left their 
guns leaning against the l<3g, while they, for 
safety, slept 'some distance away in the 
bushes. In the morning, missing their gtms, 
they rushed to the place where they had built 
their fire and found both gunstocks burned 
off. Boone took his tomahawk, cut down 
a walnut tree and restocked the guns — a 
task that required two or three days. Wil- 
liam Ray was married three times and was 
the father of twenty-five children. Two of 
his sons fought with Jackson at the liattle 
of New Orleans, January 8, 1815. His 
family scattered, most of them settled in 
the VV^est and Northwest. His death oc- 
curred aljout 1844, when he was eighty-five 
years of age. 

William Ray, son of William Ray, the 
explorer and Kentucky pioneer, was born 
on his father's farm, near Knoxville, Ten- 
nessee, in 1806. and was the twenty-second 
child. He was a farmer and became a prom- 
inent citizen of his community, serving as 
sheriff of his county while James K. Polk 
was circuit judge of that district. In poli- 
tics he was a \\'hig. He-continued a resi- 
dent of Tennessee until ]\Iarch, 1843, when 
he gave his brother four slaves that his 
father had given him and made preparation 
to come to Iowa. In company with others 
he constructed a houseboat 25x90 feet, with 
six compartments, one for each family, with 
o])ening for ingress in the roof — one for 
each chamber. There were two sweep oars 
and a great steering oar, and in this boat 
they descended the Holston. Tennessee and 
Ohio rivers to Cairo, where they sold the 
boat, proceeding by steamer to St. Louis 
and thence by another boat to Keokuk, 



378 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



Iowa. Mr. Ray and his family settled on 
the Des Moines river in the timber, near 
Farmington, and secured a piece of land, 
about six acres of which had been cleared 
and a cabin built. He cleared the timber 
from about forty acres in order to make a 
farm. There Avere no Indians living in 
this locality, but many passed through on 
their way to hunting grounds farther west. 
Mr. Ray was one of the first settlers of his 
locality and took an active part in promot- 
ing the pioneer development. He died 
May lo, 1848, at the age of forty-two years. 
He was married in Tennessee to Harriet 
Parmer, about 1827. The Farmers were 
from North Carolina. Daniel Boone was 
the leader of a company from that state, but 
when they reached Knoxville, being worn 
out with the journey, the Farmers and some 
others halted and remained near Utica, Ten- 
nessee, while the others proceeded on their 
way to Kentucky. The mother of Harriet 
(Fanner) Ray was living there in 1885, a 
hale and hearty woman of ninety-five years. 
Game was not always plentiful and there- 
fore the family was at times without meat. 

William and Harriet (Farmer) Ray 
were the parents of nine children, two sons 
and seven daughters : Rebecca Ann, who 
married Robert Davis; Mary Jane, the wife 
of Thomas Renwell; Wiley B., Martha, wife 
of Edward Stevens ; William, who married 
Joanna Ensenminger; Isable, who married 
Jonathan Holmes; Mrs. Sarah Sawyer; Sen- 
ath, who died unmarried, and Cynthia, who 
died in infancy. 

Wiley B. Ray had but limited oppor- 
tunities for attending school. He lived at 
home until 1848, and then worked as a farm 



hand for others for two years. From 1850 
until 1854 he owned and drove a hack in 
Keokuk, and in the latter years went to St. 
Faul, Minnesota. In June of that year he 
was one of a party of thirty^ civilians who 
started with military escort under General 
Canby. Lieutenant Wells being in imme- 
diate command, to survey the railroad line 
west from Minneapolis. They were among 
the Sioux and other tribes of Indians, pro- 
ceeding to the headwaters of the streams 
running into the Facific. They returned 
the following Februarys part of the way 
with snow shoes, dogs and sleds. They had 
plenty of trouble with the Indians, and a 
guard was often stationed at night to pre- 
vent an unexpected Indian outbreak. After 
again reaching Keokuk ^Ir. Ray once more 
drove a hack. 

In 1858 Mr. Ray went to ]\Iissouri, and 
in 1860-61 he and a partner built a bridge 
across the Piatt river, near Ringgold, Flatt 
county, taking the stone from the quarry 
and the lumber from the woods, and receiv- 
ing $16,000 for the work. They were often 
shot at by bushwhackers while thus engaged 
in bridgebuilding. Mr. Ray came again to 
Keokuk in the fall of 1861, and has since 
made this city his home. For a number of 
years he owned a transfer line and did a 
profitable business. He also conducted a 
wood and coal yard until 1883, when he 
established his livery stable, and has since 
been in this line of business, covering 
twenty-one years. He has both a livery and 
feed stable, and receives a good patronage. 
His bam is located at No. 408 North Fifth 
street. 

On the 31st of May, i860, Mr. Ray was 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



379 



married to Miss Emily Gill)ert, at St. Jo- 
seph, Alissouri. She was born tliirty miles 
from Baltimore, Maryland, in 1840, a 
daughter of Thomas and Lorena Gilbert, 
and died twent-six years after her marriage. 
For his second wife he chose Emma Clark, 
the wedding taking place December _'8, 
1886. She is a native of Keokuk and a 
daughter of Charles Clark, a native of Eng- 
land, and a butcher by trade, who settled in 
Keokuk in 1853. There are three children 
by this marriage : Emily. William and 
Jesse Ray. Mr. Ray is a Republican in 
politics, but has never been an aspirant for 
office, prefering to give his undivided atten- 
tion to his business interests, in which he 
has prospered, owing to close application 
and untiring diligence. 



ELIAS HAIL ENSLOW. 

In the settlement of the West the pio- 
neers had to face many trials and difficulties. 
They had gone far from the conveniences 
and privileges of civilization. Markets were 
remote, and communication difficult. The 
prairies were like the ocean, and the roads 
primitive in the extreme. Distances now 
measured ' by hours then required many 
days, and the journey from Fort Madison 
to Chicago was a tax on a stout heart. 
Schools were few and far between, and 
when located were of very inferior grade. 
But the hearts on the frontier were brave, 

23 



and nothing discouraged the builders of 
the great states that are now mighty em- 
pires in themselves. They improved the 
land, bridged the rivers, built the roads, 
planted what are now great cities, and in due 
time came the railroad and the tlegraph and 
the mail to bring the ends of the country 
together. The East and the West, at least, 
w ere next-door neighliors ; space was elim- 
inated; time was annihilated. To the prai- 
ries of Iowa came the art and refinement of 
Xew England; learning was no longer 
strange and the schoolmaster was abroad 
in the land. The Empire state beyond the 
great river had come to its own. The men 
who helped in this great transformation 
should always be reverently remembered. 
It was no slight task, the Ijuilding of an 
empire, that they undertook. Among them, 
and entitled to an honored place, is the 
man whose name heads this article. He is 
now dead, but in his da}' he played a man's 
part in the settlement of Lee county, and he 
is remembered in Pleasant Ridge township 
as a man of fine character and upright 
spirit. 

Elias Hail Enslow was born in Tus- 
carora, Schuylkill county, Pennsylvania, 
June 8, 1826, a son of Thomas and Cather- 
ine (Noss) Enslow. He was but a small 
child when his parents came to Pleasant 
Ridge township, where they settled in the 
timber, but soon removed to the prairie, 
making a home on section 23, where the 
family home has been maintained to the 
present time. Here passed to their rest the 
father and mother in due time, and their 
ashes, with those of the other members who 



38o 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



liave been called home, are to be found in 
the family burying ground, long retained 
on the old homestead. 

Mr. Enslow was given a common-school 
education, such as the frontier schools of 
the time afforded ; but he had a thoughtful 
and reflective mind, an observant disposi- 
tion, and kept close watch on the pissing 
world, so that in due time he became what 
might be fairly and justly termed a well- 
educated man. an education largely acquired 
bv himself, but none the less genuine and 
real. .\s the oldest child in the family he 
was early called upon to form critical and 
decisive opinions, and was mature beyond 
his years. For many years he lived at home, 
and when he began for himself bought a 
forty-acre tract of his father, as the nucleus 
of a very fine estate. He bought land on 
several subsequent occasions, until he was 
the owner of a fine farm, consisting of 250 
acres. In later years he disposed of a part 
of his extensive real estate holdings, and at 
the time of his death had reduced his farm 
to 160 acres. 

Mr. Enslow was married December 2, 
1859, to Miss Sarah A. Lee, a native of 
Ohio, and a daughter of Edward D. and 
Matilda (Frederick) Lee. The mother was 
born in Virginia, and the father in Genes- 
see county. New York. They were mar- 
ried in Ohio, of which state they were pio- 
neers. Li 1839 they removed to Fort Mad- 
ison, where the husband and father found 
employment as a carpenter, and was engaged 
in the construction of the first court hou.se 
erected in Lee county. Mr. Lee remained in 
Fort Madison only about a year, and after 
spending two more years in Farmington, 



Van Buren county, returned to Ohio. They 
did not long continue in Ohio, but coming 
back to Iowa, secured a farm near Farm- 
ington, on which both father and mother 
lived and died. Mrs. Enslow was educated 
in the district schools, and profiting by her 
opportunities has become a lady of intel- 
ligence and broad views. Though now ad- 
vanced in years she is still alert and vigorous 
to all the passing interests of the commu- 
nity in which she li^•es and the welfare of lier 
children and their children, who enfold 
her in loving care. 

Mr. and Mrs. Enslow were the parents 
of a large family, brief mention of which 
may be made as follows: Ella M., the wife' 
of John Morgan, and tlie mother of John. 
Grace. Elmer, Helen and Alonzo; Alice, the 
wife of Charles Miner, a resident of Fort 
Madison; Mary L., the wife of David Con- 
ro, of Schoharie county. New York, and the 
mother of George Edward, Hester Ann and 
Floyd. She has by her first husband, \\\\- 
liam Flemming, two daughters, .\da and 
Maude; Miss Ada Lee. Maud Alice, Katie 
Belle died of consumption when a young 
woman of se\-enteen : Edward P. died when 
twenty-four years of age; William Chase, 
who lives in Pleasant Ridge township, mar- 
ried Miss Frances Blum, and is the father 
of five children ; Lucia, Agnes, Arthur. Al- 
vin Lee and Alma Lea, the last two being 
twins ; John F. lives at home with his mother 
and runs the farm, he married IMiss Carrie 
Colton. by whom he has had two children; 
George Fremont and Sadie Jane ; Elias Fre- 
mont died at the dawn of early manhood, 
and two others who died in infancy. Ben- 
jamin H. and I^izzie Maude. 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



381 



In religious matters Mr. Enslow was a 
member of the Presbyterian church, as was 
his father before him. Mrs. Enslow is con- 
nected witli the Qmilierland Presbyterian 
cliurcli, ami lier walk and conversation bring 
no discredit upon her faith and profession. 
After his death she took charge of the fam- 
ily iKimestead, and conducted it with marked 
success until her son became of age to take 
the burden from her shoulders. 

The Enslow family ha\-e given Lee 
county some of its best citizens. They ha\e 
been trained to honesty, industry and thrift, 
and taught lessons of integritv, worthilv sus- 
taining an honored name. 



WILLIAM D. PATTERSON. 

The legal profession affords opportunity 
for the development of the finest character 
and the exercise of the noblest powers of 
thought and reason. Tt may be followed in 
a narrow and selfish manner, hut the man 
who makes the law a means of self-aggran- 
dizement alone or mainly, is regarded with 
doubt and aversion. The lawyer should cul- 
tivate pul)lic spirit, he should place the right 
above profit and loss, and be ever ready to 
espouse the cause of innocence against the 
oppressions of the strong and brutal. It is 
a calling in which ideals should have a verj' 
large place, aufl though the materialistic ten- 
dencies of the present time make constant 
assault upon his idealism the true lawyer is 
always seeking to li\'e in the upper regions 



of his nature. Such men the world loves 
and honors, and when it discovers them will 
not readily give them up. bin luilds them in 
honor and reverence. Among these men is 
mmibered the distinguished gentleman wiiose 
name introduces this biographical review. 
He is an aljle lawyer, an honorable man, and 
is regarded as a credit t(j the Lee county 
bar. 

William D. Patterson, attorney at law, 
Keokuk, Iowa, is a native of that city, his 
birth occurring Octoljer 9, 1857. He is a 
son of John A. and Elizabeth (Wilson) Pat- 
terson. 

The first of this branch of the Patterson 
family came from the North of Ireland, and 
settled in Jefferson county, Ohio, where he 
lived a farmer. His wife was an Armstrong, 
and they had a family of fourteen children. 
She lived to a great age, 

John .\. Patterson was the first of a fam- 
ily of fourteen children bom to his parents 
in Jefferson county, Ohio, and learned the 
car])enter trade in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, 
whence he came to Iowa, in 1852. He set- 
tled at Keokuk, where he has since followed 
his trade. His wife, Elizabeth Wilson, was 
a daughter of Henry and Mary (Burbridge) 
Wilson. Both families came from Virginia, 
but spent some years in Kentucky. Tliey 
were later settled in Pickaway county, Ohio. 
Tlie Wilsons accompanied Dr. Galland in 
his removal to this state. Mrs. Elizabeth 
Patterson, who was born January 18, 1829, 
died on Easter Sunday, 1899. Henr}' Wil- 
son was a farmer, and was first located for 
himself near Carthag'e, Illinois, whence lie 
remo\e(l to Monticcllo, that state, and op- 
])osite Keokuk, where he worked at the shoe- 



382 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



maker's trade. Still later he settled on a farm 
six miles west of Keokuk, which is now oc- 
cupied by Joe Lupton. When Keokuk had 
become something of a town. Mr. Wilson 
became one of its residents, and was killed 
' while handling logs. His widow did not 
long survive his death. At one time he 
owned a part of the "Half Breed Reserva- 
tion,'^ which now constitutes part of the city 
of Keokuk. The title was made out to him 
by an Indian, but it was so indefinite in its 
description by metes and bounds that he 
could not locate it after years, and finally 
lost it. Eleven children were born to Mr. 
and Mrs. Henry Wilson. The two oldest 
died while young. Lucinda married Jona- 
than Wycoff. Samantha is the wife of 
Thompson McClear\-; Nancy married Hugh 
McCleary, a cousin to Thompson ; Elizabeth, 
the mother of the subject of this article, was 
the next child in the family. Mary J., is 
the wife of R. W. Alvord. Mattie is the 
wife of Benjamin Harrison. William H. 
•lives in Chicago. Andrew J., is in Ne- 
braska, and Samuel is dead. 

John A. Patterson and wife were the 
parents of a family of five children : Ida ; 
William D. ; Charles, who died at the age 
of twelve years ; Mabel, who died at the age 
of twenty-five years; and Robert J., of 
Keokuk. 

\\'illiam D. Patterson received his edu- 
cation in the public schools and Miller's 
Commercial College. He read law with Gil- 
more & Anderson, eminent attorneys at 
Keokuk for three years. Under their ad- 
vice and instruction he became deeply 
versed in the basic principles of the profes- 
sion, and imbilied a large enthusiasm for 



the law in its higher phases and applications. 
He was admitted to the bar in i88o, and 
served for some time as an attorney clerk. 
For a time he was associated with J. C. 
Davis, who is now a resident of the capital 
city. In 1884 he began the practice of his 
profession for himself, and has been alone 
in his career. He carries on a general law 
practice, and devotes himself to all branches 
of his work. Although he is a Republican, 
and is regarded as a reliable party worker, 
he takes no part in the political affairs of 
the city, preferring to devote all his thought 
and energy to the work of his profession. 
The law as he regards it is a jealous mis- 
tress, and will not tolerate any divided alle- 
giance. Others may give attention to many 
outside large or petty interests, but for Mr. 
Patterson his great calling is so magnificent 
a field of labor that it more than exhausts 
all his strength and energy. He is not a 
member of any secret or fraternal society, 
and while genial and courteous in his man- 
ners as a gentleman should always be, he 
keeps one thing before him, and that 
is his life work, tiie practice of the legal 
profession. 



CHARLES A. BUTZ. 

On the mil of useful and substantial citi- 
zens who have borne their part honorably 
in the industrial life of Fort ^Madison ap- 
pears the name of Charles A. Butz. Mr. 
Butz was bom in Greene county, Pennsyl- 
vania, April 13, 1858, and is the son of John 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



383 



T'. and Man- ( Ledwith) Butz. John P. 
Butz, the fatlier, who was born at Browns- 
ville, T'ennsN'Kania, was a jihysician ami 
practiced his profession in that state and in 
Indiana, his death occurring at Vevay. In- 
diana. He was of the lineage known as 
Pennsylvania German. Mary L. Butz. 
mother of our subject, was born in (ireene 
county. Pennsylvania, and died in Mil- 
waukee in 1902. They were the parents of 
\\\o children, the younger being Jessie, wife 
of Harry McGill, of Milwaukee, manager 
of the Postal Telegraph Company. 

Charles .\. Butz was reared in \'cvay, 
Indiana, to which place he removed with 
his parents from Pennsylvania in his early 
years, and there he acquired a good educa- 
tion in the ]iul)lic schools. He left his home 
in 1887, and, going to Chicago to seek 
broader opportunities, entered the employ 
of the Western Union Telegrajih Company 
as bookkeeper. Continuing in that work 
for three years, he engaged bim-^elf at the 
termination of that period as fireman on a 
passenger locomotive of the Santa Fe sys- 
tem, running between Chicago and Fort 
Madisnn. In this capacity he continued fur 
six years, or until 1896, when he accepted a 
position as engineer with the Morrison Plow 
Company, of tliis place, by whom he is still 
employed. 

At Fort Madison July 18. 1891. Mr. 
Butz was united in marriage to ^liss F.lla 
Atlee, daughter of Samuel J. and Ehira V. 
(Nf)rton) Atlee. The marriage of Mrs. 
Butz's parents took place December 2^, 
1866. the ceremony being performed by 
Rev. T. E. Bliss. Samuel J. Atlee was born 
]\Iarch 12, 1838. and died in Mem])his, Ten- 



nessee. October 14, 1873, the victim of a 
yellow-fever epidemic. At the time of his 
death he held the office of deputy United 
States marshal. He was born in Pennsyl- 
vania, spent the days of his boyhood Snd 
youth in Fort Madison, and was married to 
Ehira Norton in ^Memphis. During the 
Ci\il War he was captain of Company D, of 
the Seventh Regiment Iowa Volunteer In- 
fantry, participating in important engage- 
ments, was taken prisoner l)y the Confeder- 
ate forces, and suffered a six months' im- 
prisonment in Libln' prisrm. Although the 
hardships a'.id dcpri\'ations rif that time had 
serious effects upon his health, and although 
many of his comrades succumbed to the 
wretched and terrible ccniditions of prison 
life, he sur\-i\ed. He jiossessed strength of 
character, ability and an affectionate nature. 
Elvira V. Atlee. mother of Mrs. Butz, was 
of Virginia birth, her natal day being Janu- 
ary I'j, 1844. She (lied July 21, 1877, while 
(jn a \'isit to relatives of her huslinnd at Fort 
Madison. 

Mrs. Butz became a resident of Fort 
.Mndisiin in TS8r. She is the eldest of a 
family of three, the date of her birth being 
Xo\ember 29, 1867. The others are: 
Marion, born January 17. 1869, became the 
wife of Charles Whyte, of Jersey ville, Il- 
linois, and has one child, Geraldine; Nettie, 
born August 20, 1S72, married Robert Cat- 
tcrmole, of .\bbotsford, Wisconsin, son of 
the Mr. Cattcrmole who was for many years 
a pork packer in Fort Madison. 

Mr. Butz is a member of the .Vncient 
Order I'niled Wcirkmen. in which order he 
has held the office of foreman, and in his 
IKilitical connection he is a believer in the 



384 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



principles of the Republican party, support- 
ing its nominees in all cases where im- 
portant issues are at stake. In January, 
1904, he purchased a pleasant and commo- 
dious home at Xo. 611 Fourth street. The 
family formerly occupied a residence at 909 
Fourth street. Mr. Butz is a man of genial 
disposition, respected for his strict integrity 
in all his dealings, and has many friends 
\\ho speak his praise. He is well worthy 
a place in this volume. 



CHARLES CLINTON TUCKER. 

Charles Clinton Tucker, a member of 
one of the older families of Lee county and 
at the present time assessor of Green Bay 
towwnship, is well known to a large circle 
of friends and acquaintances who will be 
interested in a sketch of his life and family 
history. Mr. Tucker was born in Dear- 
born county, Indiana, September 6, 1852. 
the son of John W. and Sarah (Spicknall) 
Tucker, and removed with his parents to 
Green Bay township, this county, in his 
early childhood. There the father entered 
as a "homestead" one-half section of land, 
which is still in the possession of the fam- 
ily. Both parents are now deceased, and 
are interred in the Beebe cemetery. Active 
and consistent memljers of the Methodist 
Episcopal church, identified A\itli the pro- 
gressive interests of the community in which 
they lived, becoming large landholders and 
very well-to-do in a pecuniary way, they 



enjoyed the general respect and esteem, and 

the record of their characters is a precious 
heritage to be handed down to succeeding 
generations in loving remembrance and ven- 
eration. They were the parents of eight 
children. 

Mr. Tucker, the subject of this sketch, 
received his initial knowledge of books, and 
indeed his entire formal education, in the 
puljlic schools of his township, but this train- 
ing he has added to by a life of reading and 
observation, and by his lively interest in 
public questions has become well versed in 
current topics. Until 1876, the year in 
which he attained his majority, he assisted 
in the work of his father's farm, thus re- 
ceiving a practical training which has since 
proved valuable as the basis of later suc- 
cesses. In 1876 he was united in marriage 
with Miss Alice Hyter, a native of Green 
Bay township, and they have four children, 
as follows : George, a farmer, who mar- 
ried Miss Blanche Puckter and has two chil- 
dren, John and Vida: Fred O., who married 
Miss Maude Liddle and has two children, 
Frank and Clinton; Samuel. wh<i married 
Miss Liddia Lange and has one child, Lloyd; 
and Vida, who is the wife of Harry Peel. 

Mr. Tucker is the proprietor of 430 acres 
of fertile and productive lands, among the 
best in this section of the state,- upon which 
he has placed many modern improvements. 
.\ large and handsome dwelling and well- 
kept grounds attest the progressive spirit of 
the owner. Here Mr. Tucker conducts gen- 
eral farming, and also makes a specialty 
of the breeding of stock. His present pros- 
perity is the result of his own efforts, he 
being one of that valuable class of citizens 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



385 



who are entitled to tlie name of self-made 
men. He attends and supports the Chris- 
tian church, of which Mrs. Tucker is a mem- 
ber, and fraternally he holds membership in 
the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at 
W'ever, of which lotlge he is Past Grand, 
and in the Benevolent and Protective Or- 
der of Elks, at Fort Madison. His political 
faith is that of the Democracy, whose prin- 
ciples he believes best calculated to secure 
the j^reatest good to the greatest number, 
and of whose chosen leaders he has ever 
been a loyal and able supporter. He has 
served his party as delegate to all conven- 
tiojis of importance for a long tenn of years, 
and in igoo he was chosen by public 
suffrage to the office of assessor of Green 
Bay township, a testimony to his ability, 
popularity and ])arty services. This posi- 
tion he still holds. 

IMr. Tucker is a man of rare foresight 
and discernment in affairs of business, and 
his social qualities have made him many 
friends who regard him as a man of sound 
judgment and one who is disposed to deal 
justly in all relations of life. He is a 
worthy representative of a family who did 
much toward the upbuilding of Lee county 
in pioneer days. 



JOSEPH A. LUPTON. 



To record the life stories of men who 
have gained large and lasting success by 
their own unassisted efforts is the most im- 
portant task of the historian, and the 



record of their achievements forms the 
jiroudest pages in the chronicles of mankind. 
Ti) this class' of useful citizens belongs 
Joseph .\. Lupton, who now resides on his 
large and prosperous farm of 400 acres on 
section 19, Jackson township, Lee county, 
Iowa, and who was born July 12, 
1827, on a farm in Highland county, 
Ohio, the son of David and Ruth (.Vdams) 
Lupton, both of Virginia, in which state 
they celebrated their marriage. In 1844 'le 
accompanied his parents to Lee county, and 
here the father rented land and farmed, but 
afterward bought land in Putnam county, 
Missom-i, where he died in 1889, his own 
demise having been preceded by that of his 
wife, which occurred in 1879. In 1853 Mr. 
Lupton bought land in Putnam county, on 
which he resided for a year, but at the end 
of that time he returned to Lee count}-, 
and has since resided in Jackson township, 
with the exception of a period of six years 
during which he lived in Butte county, 
California, where he owned a farm in the 
.Sacramento, conducting agricultural opera- 
tions and hauling the products of his land 
up into the mountains, where he was able 
to dispose of it at a ])rofit. 

At the home which he now occupies Mr. 
Lupton was luiitcd in mnrriag'e in 1832 to 
Miss Anna Lancaster, who was born in 
Liverpool, England, June 14, 1S35, ^""^^ came 
to the United States in 1847, making the 
voyage on the sailship R. D. Shepherd, 
which set .sail b^ebriKun- 13th. an<l landed at 
New Orleans, March 17th, after a remark- 
ably long and tedious voyage, during which 
they were Ijecalmed for two weeks in the 
Gulf of Mexico. Thence the family ascend- 
ed the Mississippi ri\-cr on the steamer Lucy 



386 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



Burton to Lee county. Tlie father of Mrs. 
Lupton was John Lancaster, of Penrith, 
Cumberland county. England, and while in 
Liverpool he was a wholesale butcher, but in 
America he pursued the ocaipation of farm- 
ing, owning land in Jackson township, where 
he died on September 29, 1850. His wife 
survived him imtil 1856, and lier death was 
caused by a railroad wreck while en route to 
California, occurring on the Isthmus of 
Panama, where she is buried. The family 
consisted of five brothers and sisters, of 
whom only two are now living, the other 
being Sarah E., wife of Samuel Snow, of 
Santa Rosa, California. Mrs. Lupton re- 
ceived her education in England and in 
^\'i^iams■s school in Keokuk, and after the 
completion of her studies was a teacher for 
one year. 1849-50. in the Oakwood school. 
To Mr. and Mrs. Lupton have been born six 
sons and three daughters, as follows : David 
A., residing in Kansas, who married Miss 
Jennie Sparks and has three children, James. 
Ellis and Francis; Sadie; John C. who now 
manages his father's farm; Louis E.. who 
died at the age of thirty-nine; William H.. 
who died at twenty-four years of age ; Marjr 
B.. wife of W. W. Howells, a farmer, who 
has three children. Thomas. .\nna Belle and 
IMabel ; Anna "Ruth, who resides with her 
parents; Charles N.. who married Miss Ida 
Millikin and has three children. Norman 
L.. Anna E.. and Myrtle R. ; and Asa F.. 
who married Miss Nora Osgood and has 
one child, Paul. 

Mr. and Mrs. Lupton have been for 
twenty \ears faithful members of the West- 
minster Presbyterian church at Keokuk, be- 
ing ranked among its most generous and 



constant supporters and always contributing 
liberally to its charities, in which they take 
a deep interest, and Mrs. Lupton in a mem- 
ber of its Circle No. 14. Mr. Lupton is an 
extensive reader and student of public ques- 
tions, being an influential member of the 
Republican party in this section, and was at 
one time called upon by his fellow citizens 
to assume the duties of township supervisor, 
which office he held for eight years with 
credit to himself and to the benefit of those 
who elected him and the public in gen- 
eral, while he also ser\-ed as director of the 
public schools for one year. At the pres- 
ent time, however, owing to the weight of 
advancing age, combined with feeble health, 
he is living retired from the earlier activities 
of his career, enjoying the well-earned ease 
and comfort which have come to him as the 
result of careful, wise management and long 
and faithful devotion to duty. He is of 
a marked patriotic spirit, which may be ex- 
plained by citing the fact that he is a dis- 
tant relative of that grandest among the 
grand figures of American histon,-, Abraham 
Lincoln, as his grandmother Adams was a 
sister of Nancy Hanks, the mother of Lin- 
coln. Another interesting bit of family his- 
tory is that William Lupton. of London. 
England, an imcle of David Lupton, father 
of our subject, was one of the eight men 
who met in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1819, 
and organized the first lodge of the Inde- 
pendent Order of Odd Fellows in the I'^nited 
States. Mr. Lupton takes a keen interest in 
matters of family and local histon*-, and re- 
lates many anecdotes and facts which are 
of value as illustrating the manners and cus- 
toms of an earlier dav. 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



387 



EDGAR C. COBB. 

Edgar C. Cobb, who for many years was 
identified with Iniilding; operations in Keo- 
kuk and who made an unassailable reiiuta- 
tion in business circles, was born in Burling- 
ton. \^ermont, on the iRth of November. 
^^T,J. His father. Richard Cobb, was 
a native of England, but his mother, 
Marv A. Cobb, was born in Canada 
and they were married in the lat- 
ter country. The father served as a soldier 
in the Mexican War and his sympathies were 
with the Union cause at the time of the Civil 
War, Init he was too old to enlist. He car- 
ried on farming for a long period in Jack- 
son county. Iowa, and subsequently con- 
ducted a hotel in the town of Andrew in that 
county. He was one of the pioneer resi- 
dents of the state and aided in laying broad 
and deep the foundation for the present de- 
velopment and progress of the locality, in 
which he made his home. In the family 
were the following named : Famsworth, 
who is a veteran of the Civil War, and died 
October to. 1904 in Sac City, Iowa, from 
wounds received in the army; William A., 
who also served as a member of the Union 
army and is now residing in Huntsville. 
Washington: Mrs. Josephine Willcy. of 
Council Bluffs. Iowa; and Mrs. Hannah 
Bryan, of Sioux City. Iowa. Edgar C. Cobb 
the other member of the family, remained 
a resident of New England during the first 
fourteen years of his life and then accom- 
panied his parents on their rcmo\-al to Jack- 
son county, Iowa. His education was ac- 
quired in the public schools of Vermont and 
of this state, and he is also a graduate of 



the Maquoketa Academy of the class of 
1857. He remained at home until about 
nineteen years of age. when he started out 
in life fur himself and became an apprentice 
to the carpenters trade in Galena, Illinois. 
While thus engaged he took up the study of 
medicine and in 1858 he entered the medi- 
cal schocjl at Nashville, Tennessee, from 
which he was graduated in the spring of 
i860, with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. 
He afterward purchased a drug store at 
Nashville, but this was later confiscated by 
the Rebels in the name of the United Con- 
federate States of America, and Mr. Cobb 
was left with only the clothing that he wore 
and what money and valuables he had on 
his person. Then under sixty days' armis- 
tice, he came north and enlisted in the United 
States army, becoming a member of Com- 
pany I. Twelfth Iowa Infantr\-. under com- 
mand of Captain Vanduze and Colonel 
Wood. The regiment was attached to Pren- 
tice's division and Mr. Cobb served for three 
vears and four months. ]:)articipating in a 
number of hotly contested engagements, in- 
cluding the battles of Shiloli'. Duvall's Bluff, 
Memphis. Nashville. Atlanta. Corinth. Pitts- 
burg Landing, Fort Blakely and siege of 
AHcksburg. together with many minor en- 
gagements. He was wounded on the ad- 
vance on Corinth, his eyes lieiiig burned with 
powder and one put out. He also sustained 
a gunshot wound in the right leg. which 
took off a portion of the patella. When in- 
jured in the eye he went into the hospital 
at Shiloh. where he remained for two weeks 
and later was put aboard a boat and sent to 
Keokuk. It was here that Sergeant Hughes 
placed him in the drug room of the Estes 



388 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



House Hospital, wliere lie remained for 
three months and then having recovered he 
again joined his regiment at St. Louis, and 
went on down the river, Tliey left the boat 
at Pittsburg Landing preparatory' to taking 
part in the fight at Vicksburg. On various 
occasions he was detailed as medical store 
keeper and also as assistant surgeon and 
at Vicksburg he was detailed for duty as 
assistant surgeon in General Prestice's Hos- 
pital. He was mustered out on Dauphin 
Island in the Gulf of Mexico, after the battle 
of Fort Blakely, and with a most creditable 
military record returned to his home. 

On again reaching Keokuk, Dr. Cobb 
entered upon the practice of medicine, in 
which he continued for six months, when 
he opened a drug store in the Keokuk Medi- 
cal Building, continuing in that business for 
one winter. Finding, however, that profes- 
sional duties and the sale of drags was not 
entirely congenial he entered the Rock Isl- 
and Railway shops as a journeyman car- 
penter, being thus employed for two years. 
On the expiration of that period he began 
contracting and house building and from 
1875 until 18(38 was closely associated with 
building operations in Keokuk. In the lat- 
ter year, however, his left eye began failing 
and he u-as forced to gi\-e up the work. He 
was the architect and builder of manv mod- 
ern stractures in the city, however, and else- 
where in the state. He both designed and 
built the court house at Perry, Iowa, erected 
the Limberg, Essex & Frazier Building in 
Keokuk, the school house at Warsaw, Illi- 
nois, and many residences and business 
blocks in this city and surrounding districts. 

In the fall of 1858 at Xashville, Tennes- 



see, while attending school there, Mr. Cobb 
was united in marriage to Miss Mary A. 
Maddox, who died October 20, 1889, in 
Keokuk, Iowa, at the age of forty-seven 
years, one month and seventeen days. She 
left two children, William, an architect, of 
Alton, Illinois, who is married and has three 
children; and Jessie, the wife of E. A. 
Meyer, a barber, of West Keokuk. 

Mr. Cobb is a valued member of the 
Independent Order of Odd Fellows, with 
which he has been identified since attaining 
his majority and he is now serving as outer 
guard in the Keokuk lodge. He also belongs 
to the Grand Army of the Republic, and in 
his political views is a stalwart Republican. 
He has ever endorsed the principles which 
he believed would contribute most to the wel- 
fare of county, state and nation and has al- 
ways been fearless in advocating any meas- 
ure or movement which he believed to be 
right. In business his strong executive force, 
keen foresight and unfaltering energy- 
proved the foundation for his success and 
gained to him a comfortable competence. 



HON. DAVID A. YOUNQ. 

The subject of this, review is an honored 
and highly respected citizen of Des Moines 
township, Lee countv, Iowa, where his 
neighbors have called him to represent them 
in the State Senate. He is a man of broad 
and progressive views, and in the state where 
there is such wide diffusion of political 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



389 



knowledge and such general prevalence of 
sound political sense, he has won an envi- 
able standing as a leader and statesman. 

Mr. Young was born in Burnside, Han- 
cock county, Illinois, January 16, 1852, a 
son of the Rev. William and Juliette (Toms) 
Young. The remote American ancestor of 
the "S'oung family settled in Canada long 
ago. David Young, the grandfather of 
David A., made a home on the Toronto ri\er, 
forty miles below the Canadian city of that 
name, being a farmer and nuich interested 
in milling. He was the father of a family 
of five children : Justus ; Hettie, first the 
wife of Warren Bain, and after his death, 
the wife of David Lyons, of Galland, Lee 
county. Iowa : Polly, wife of John Wilson, of 
Hancock county. Illinois; John and \\\\- 
liam. The grandmother passed away in Han- 
cock county, Illinois, many years ago. The 
Young family removed to the L^nited States 
about 1840. and settled near Burnside, Illi- 
nois, where the children in due time made 
homes for themselves. The grandfather 
died in 1868, at the age of seventy-five. 

The Rev. William Ynung was torn De- 
cember 5, 183 1, and secured his education 
at the hands of the teachers of the public 
schools. He was reared on the farm, and 
was closelv associated with the \'ocation of 
farming. In 1864 he was licensed to preach 
by the Missionary Baptists, and three years 
later was ordained at Charlestown, Iowa, 
where he had a notable work. He was also 
pastor of a church at Croton. and other 
churches where he ilid a great work. Mr. 
Young was an earnest preacher, who 
wrought a good work in the days of his ac- 
tive ministry. He married Juliette Toms, 



who was born in Illinois, and to their vmion 
came two. children : David A., and Juliette, 
who married Isaac Schafer, a resident of 
Dcs Moines townshij), Lee county. Mrs. 
Young died when David was only four years 
old. The Toms family came of English an- 
cestry, and have made a good record in 
past years. 

Rev. W'illiam A. Young was later mar- 
ried to Miss Lydia Swisher, a native of 
Peimsylvania, the wedding occurring August 
-3- ^^S7- To this union were horn ten 
children; Edward; Dr. James A.; Ida M., 
the wife of Dr. Brownfield, and now de- 
ceased; John; Daisy M., wife of J. Ross 
Kels}-; five died in infancy. Rev. and Mrs. 
Young both died in 188 1. the mother on 
the i8th day of June, and the father on the 
25th day of March, at the residence of his 
son, David. He was a man of serious con- 
\ictions, gifted with fine oratorical power 
and good sense. He was a strong Prohibi- 
tionist, voted the Democratic ticket until 
1864, when he cast his vote for Abraham 
Lincoln. Much devoted to his work, he at- 
tained much success in his sacred calling, and 
his converts were numerous. Dignified and 
firm in his bearing, he was powerful in 
prayer. It is said that he had no enemies, 
but on the contrary legions of friends. 

David A. Young recci\'ed his education 
in the public schools in a very large degree, 
and early proved himself a hard worker, be- 
ing employed on the United .States canal, on 
the farm and in a saw mill before he was 
twenty-one. He was married early in life, 
to Miss Sarah J. Wright, October i. 1872. 
She was born May 27, 1849, ^t Keokuk, the 
daughter of M. D. and Mary Ann (Clark) 



390 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



Wright, of Summitville. Her parents were 
very early pioneers of Keokuk, where her 
people h:ive become quite numerous. ^^Ir. 
Young took charge of a part of Mr. 
AWight's farm, and was thus engaged for 
a period of three years. In 1S76 Mr. Wright 
sold out his real estate and the family re- 
moved to Rice county, Kansas. Mr. Young 
located in A'an Buren township the follow- 
ing vear, where he bought a farm. For 
bome four )ears he devoted himself to buy- 
ing and selling the desirable farms of Lee 
county, then settled on section 8, Des Moines 
township, where he has since remained. 
Here he owns a farm of 332 acres, a highly 
improved and exceedingly valuable place. 
For twenty-f(iur years he has been a public 
salesman, and during that time has sold a 
very large amount of property. 

Mr. and Mrs. Young have had born to 
them four children, three of whom died in 
infancy. ^Villiam M., the only or,e that has 
survived, married Miss Addie J. Rumbaugh, 
the daughter of Rev. Alexander Rumbaugh, 
of Des Moines township. They live on a 
farm adjoining his father's place, and have 
two children. Willn J- ^nd David A. 

David A. Young has devoted much at- 
tention to stockraising, and his reputation 
as a stockman is not confined to Lee county. 
He has taken much interest in political af- 
fairs since he was a young man, and has 
done much work in behalf of his friends, 
though not going into the campaigns as a 
public speaker. He has attended nearly all 
the state and county conventions as a dele- 
gate since he was twenty-one. and was elect- 
ed as justice of the peace in 1890, a position 
he filled four vears. 



Mr. Young was solicited in 1897 to be- 
come a candidate for the State Senate on 
the Democratic ticket, a compliment ren- 
dered his conceded abilities and fine char- 
acter. He accepted the nomination und 
was elected. In 1901 he was re-elected, 
being the first senator ever elected for two 
full terms in this district. In the General 
Assembly he has secured the passing of nine 
bills for the direct benefit of his county. He 
has always' been a Democrat, and is a 
straightforward and upright man. In him 
are reflected the characteristic traits of his 
father, and he worthily sustains an honored 
name. He is of a fine and sympathetic per- 
sonality, and is a pleasant and courteous gen- 
tleman on ever}- occasion. In religious mat- 
ters he is connected with the Missionarj- 
Baptist church, and well maintains his fath- 
er's faith. His wife and son are closely 
associated with him in all the activities of 
his earnest life, and are also members of 
the same denomination. The entire family 
is regarded as one of the most honorable and 
upright in Lee count)', where their name 
commands respect and admiration. 



GEORGE RUMP. 



One of the native sons of Lee county, 
who is deserving of a place in this volume on 
account of his record as a distinguished cit- 
izen and successful business man, is George 
Rump, of Fort Madison. He was born in 
Pleasant Ridge township, this county, on 



LEE COUNTY. IOWA. 



391 



April 19, 1842, and is the son of John G. 
Rump, who was bom in Oldenburg, Ger- 
many, December i, 1801, and of Katherine 
(Pisch) Rump. The marriage of his par- 
ents took place in Pleasant Ridge township. 
January 2j. T838. the cerenion\' h:i\ing been 
performed by Esquire John Burns, J. P. 

John Rump came to America about the 
year 1835, and entered a claim of govern- 
ment land in Pleasant Ridge. Later, when 
opportunity offered, he sold this claim, and 
purchased another tract of land in the same 
township. It was here that the mother of 
our subject died on March 23, 1847. ''^''"^' 
was buried in \Vest Point cemetery. In 
the family were six children, of whom 
George Rump was the third, the others be- 
ing Elizabeth, who died at ten years of age, 
having been born September 2, 1849; John, 
who lives at West Point; Mary, wife of 
A\'il!iam Hamelman, of Kansas City. Kan- 
sas : Katherine. who was born March 28. 
1847, ''"fl <l'^'l ill infancy; and Anna, w-ho 
also died in infancy. Mr. Rump's father. 
John G.. was remarried July i. 1847. to 
Man- Lutmer, since deceased. In politics 
John G. Rump was a lifelong Democrat, 
and in his religious connection a member of 
the Christian church. His death occurred 
December 6. 1871. 

George Rump acquired his schooling dur- 
ing the territorial period of the history of 
Iowa, principally in a rural public school. 
Init attended for the sjiace of one year the 
village school of West Point. He has, how- 
e\'er. made up for the meagreness of his early 
educational advantages by a life of intelli- 
gent observation combined with reading and 
a stud}- of ])ublic questions. .'\t the age of 



eighteen years he began the independent 
work of his life by leaving the home of his 
youth and securing a jxisition in the City of 
St. Louis, where he acted as clerk in a gro- 
cery store for a twelve month. Returning 
to West Point, he was employed at manual 
labor for a few months, and as a result of 
these various ocaipations, together with 
thrift and economy, he was able to accumu- 
late and save alxiut one hundred dollars. 
With tliis capital he came to Fort Madison, 
and established himself, November i, 1861, 
at the age of nineteen years, in the dry goods 
and grocery business at what is now 1436 
I'ourth street, .\fter successfully operating 
this enterprise for two years, he formed a 
partnership with his father-in-law, H. E. 
Borchers, they combined their stocks of 
goods and continued the business under the 
firm style of H. E. Borchers & Company. 
]Mr. Borchers owned the principal interest 
at the time of his death, which occurred 
al:out the 29th of April, 1857. The follow- 
ing \ear, pending the settlement of the es- 
tate. ]\Tr. Rump acted as manager at a sal- 
ary of fifty dollars per month. He then 
bought the business, continuing to conduct 
it at the Front street location until August, 
1871, when he removed to 715-17 Second 
street, and there he remained imtil 1900, 
when he disposed of his holdings by sale. 
\\'hen he sold the stock, which then consisted 
exclusively of dry goods, it was valued at 
$4,500. He has since been living a retired 
life, occupying his tiiuc with the supervision 
of his various property interests. He is to 
some extent interested in real estate, being 
owner of 240 acres > in Washington and 
Madison townships, all of which he rents. 



392 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



He also owns residence property on Fifth 
street. Fort Madison, and a commodious 
business structure, two and one-half stories 
in height, on Second street. At 826 Sec- 
ond street he built in 1899, furnishing the 
plans himself, a magnificent home costing in 
the neighljorhood of $7,000. 

As a token of the high esteem in which 
he is held by his many friends Mr. Rump 
was elected in the year 1870 to the office of 
city treasurer of Fort Madison, and was fiye 
times re-elected. He has also held the office 
of director of the public schools, as well as 
many similar positions of trust and honor. 
In politics Mr. Rump has always been a 
member of the Democratic part}', lielieving 
its principles to be for the greatest good of 
state and nation. He holds his church mem- 
bership in St. Joseph's church. 

On May 13, 186 1, was solemnized by 
Rev. Father Haetenberger, at Fort Madison, 
the marriage of George Rump and Miss 
Mary Engelkur. The date of Mrs. Rump's 
birth was January 6, 1845, and the place 
St. Louis, Missouri. To them have been 
born eight children, all of whom are living. 
Of there, George H., the eldest, born Jan- 
uary 25, 1865, married Miss Lena Schneider, 
and they live in Fort Madison, where he is 
in the flour and feed business: Henry W., 
l)orn January 16, 1868, married Katherine 
Hesse, and is a member of the Fort Madison 
firm of Rump & Seamers. grocers : John^H., 
born December 3, 1869, conducts an ice busi- 
ness in Fort Madison; Louis IL, born De- 
cember 4. 187T, and W^illiam F., born Jan- 
uary 10, 1874, are partners in the local gro- 
cery firm of Ellis, Rump & Company: Ella 
was bom February 17, 1876: Clara, October 
30, 1878, and Minnie June 18. 1882. Sons 



and flaughters all acquired their education 
in St. Joseph's school, and in addition the 
sons received preparation for the active part 
w hich the}- have since taken in the city's af- 
fairs at Johnson's Business College. 

George Rump has borne no inconsider- 
able part in the upbuilding of Fort Madi- 
son. Tw(,i large two-story brick business 
blocks were erected by him in 1871 at 715- 
717 Second street, and. in 1888 another was 
added, being No. 719. In the execution of 
these enterprises he has gained for himself 
worldly goods and reputation, and has dem- 
onstrated anew the truth that most benefits 
himself who benefits others as well. 



THOMAS COLLIER. 



One of the leading and best known rail- 
road men of Keokuk is Thomas Collier, now 
retired and living at his pleasant home at 
916 Grand avenue. He was torn March 28, 
1841, at Lowell, Massachusetts, and there 
received his education in the public schools. 
When fifteen years of age he was appren- 
ticed in the luachinist's trade at Taunton, 
that state, but the shops being closed on, ac- 
count of the financial panic of 1857, he de- 
cided to avail himself of the opportunities of 
the West, and at the early age of sixteen he 
came to Peoria, Illinois, and secured a posi- 
tion as fireman on the Toledo, Peoria & 
W'estern Railroad. When but nineteen years 
of age he was promoted to the position of 
engineer, which he filled with credit to him- 
self and to the satisfaction of the company 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



393 



until 1868, when he went to New Orleans. 
There he had charge of a train on the New 
Orleans, Jackson & Great Northern Rail- 
road, known as the "Jackson route." In 
1876 he re-entered the employ of the To- 
ledo, Peoria & Western Railroad Company 
as an engineer, in which he continued for 
a j>eriod of four years. 

Mr. Collier came to Keokuk in 1880, at 
which time he entered the service of the 
Missouri. Iowa & Nebraska Railroad Com- 
pany, now known as the Keokuk & Western. 
Here he rounded out his railroad career, con- 
tinuing until December, 1903, when he was 
compelled on account nf an attack of ner- 
vous prostration, to relinquish the work. His 
life as an engineer extended over more than 
forty years, twenty of which were spent in 
the passenger service, and while his experi- 
ence included a number of wrecks, he never 
sustained a personal injury in an accident. 

At New Orleans he was married in 1870 
to Miss Margaret Hannon, who died the fol- 
lowing year, leaving one daughter, who is a 
trained nurse and resides at Hammond, 
Michigan. At Peoria in 1876, he wedded 
Aliss Hettie Teal, and unto them have been 
born eight sons and daughters, seven of. 
whom sur\'ive, as follows : Harry, who is 
connecte<l w itli a wholesale grocery business 
at St. Joseph. Missouri ; Lucy, who is a 
stenographer; Hattic. Thomas, Byron and 
Wilfred. Mrs. Collier is the daughter of 
Henn- Teal, who is a machinist in the em- 
ploy of the Toledo. Peoria & Western Rail- 
road Company at Peoria. Two sisters of 
Mrs. Collier, Fllen and Pnuua, are also res- 
idents of that cit>'. 

Mr. Collier is of English ancestry, his 
parents having come to America from Man- 



chester, England, where the father was a 
cotton worker. He followed the same occupa- 
tion in Lowell. Massachusetts. His death 
occurred at Fall River, Massachusetts. Mr. 
and Mrs. Collier and family have occupied 
their present home for about fifteen years. 
The sitnation is one of great beautv. over- 
looking the Mississippi river. They are 
members of the LTnited Presbyterian church 
at Keokuk, in which Mr. Collier has acted 
as trustee for many years. In his political 
faith he is a Republican, and takes an abid- 
ing interest in public c|uestions. Fraternally, 
he is a member of the Brotherhood of Lo- 
comoti\e Engineers, having, for a long term 
of years, been an officer in the Keokuk 
Lodge of that order. He is widely known 
in railroad circles, and has many friends iu 
Keokuk, who respect him for the upright 
and honorable course in life and for his force 
of character. 



ATSTIN N. WRIGHT. 

.\ustin N. Wright, who is one of the 
oldest residents of Lee county, who was 
born within its limits, is a man well-deserv- 
ing of a place in the ])ages of this work, both 
because of his successful career and because, 
as one of those who in the nation's time 
of need went unselfishly to her defense, he 
has fulfilled the highest duty of a citizen. 
Mr. Wright was born near Sandusky, I.^e 
county, I\Iay 13, 1838, the .son of James and 
Mary (Chenoweth) Wright, both of Indiana. 
His parents were married in Indiana, came 
to Lee county in 1837, and bought land in 



394 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



what was known as "the half-breed tract." 
John Wright, the grandfather, also came 
at the same time, together with his six sons 
and two daughters, and bought land in the 
same tract. 

Mr. Wright obtained his first knowledge 
of books in the public schools of his district, 
acquiring a ver\' good education. Not less 
valuable were tlie lessons learned in the 
work of the farm, which called for hard and 
faithful application to duty, as well as the 
exercise of judgment, foresight and business 
ability. On his father's farm it was that 
those qualities were formed which were to 
make him successful in after life, and there 
he grew to manhood, remaining until Jan- 
uary, 1864, when he enlisted for the service 
of his country in Company B, of the Twen- 
t}--third Iowa Volunteer Infantry, under 
Captain W^alker and Colonel Glasgow. His 
period of service covered approximately 
nineteen months, and while ]\Ir. Wright's 
regiment constituted part of the Western 
Army and took part in no celebrated cam- 
paigns, the spectacular scenes of the combat 
having by that time shifted to the East, he 
was called upon to perform much hard and 
important service. The regiment did dutv 
along the Red river in Texas, Arkansas and 
Mississippi, and at Mobile, Alabama, played 
a prominent part in the capture of Spanish 
Fort. 

On March i, 1S68, Mr. Wright was 
united in marriage with Miss Melissa Col- 
vin, and they have one son and five daugh- 
ters, as follows: Hattie, a dressmaker; 
Kathryn, who is a clerk; Minnie, a teacher; 
Effie, Who is employed as a milliner; and 
Ernest and Blanche, who are still pursuing 
their education in the schools of Keokuk. 



Mrs. Colvin is the daughter of William and 
Catherine ( Vanosdall) Colvin, of Kentucky. 
Her parents were married in their native 
State of Kentucky, and came to Iowa in 
1854, purchasing land near Sandusky, Lee 
county, where they still live. She has one 
brother. G. H. Colvin, a farmer near West 
Point, and three sisters, Amanda, wife of 
John Boyd, of near Montrose; Sarah, wife 
of Frank Davis, of Montrose township ; and 
Nancy, wife of Robert Grimes, also of 
Montrose township, Lee county. 

Mr. Wright conducted farming opera- 
tions on his father's land until 1879, when 
he bought a farm of his own. Later he sold 
this, however, and resumed charge of the 
old home farm, which he continued till the 
time of his father's death. He then sold his 
•inherited interest, and removed in 1895, to 
Keokuk, where he purchased residence prop- 
erty at No. 1228 High street and has since 
lived. Of his father's family three brothers 
and one sister surA-ive, the others being John 
T., of California; Samuel B., of Keokuk; 
.•nul Isabella, wife of F. J. ^^^alker, of Keo- 
kuk. Mr. Wright holds membership in the 
Grand Army of the Republic, an honor 
which can not be too highly esteemed. He 
is a man of much force of character, and 
enjoys the respect and friendship of those 
who know him well. 



JOSEPH A. NUNN. 



The family name of Nunn is old in Fort 
Madison, and is indelibly associated with 
much that is interesting and significant in 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



395 



her history. Joseph A. Niinn, the subject of 
this review, was torn in Mation county, In- 
diana, March 12, 1841. and is the son of 
John A. and Charity (Edgell) Nunn, the 
former a native of Ohio and the latter of 
Iiuhana. John and Charity Nunn were the 
parents of six children, of whom Joseph A. 
is the only sur\ivor. Their marriaije took 
place in Indiana. The family removed to 
Missouri in 1842, and at Sweet Home, 
Clark county, that state, the father taught 
school until the spring of the following year, 
when they came to Des Moines township, 
Lee county, where a farm was purchased 
and cultivated for eight years. 

Selling the farm in 1851, John A. Nunn 
removed to Alontrose to engage in the mer- 
cantile business. Appointed deputy county 
clerk in 1855, he again changed his location, 
this time to Fort Madison, where he served 
as deputy county clerk, deputy sherifif, and 
when the law establishing the office of super- 
intendent of schools became effective he was 
elected as the first superintendent of Lee 
county. He was an educated man. well-fitted 
for the duties of his position. In addition 
he was known as an expert penman, having 
taught penmanship, as well as one term of 
school, in Indianapolis. At one time he 
was engaged in mercantile business in Fort 
Madison, and served a number of terms as 
mayor and treasurer of the city. Religiously 
he was a very active member of the Metho- 
dist Episcopal church, in which he held of- 
fices of trust, and to him usually fell the 
duty of entertaining visiting celebrities, in- 
cluding Henry Clay Dean, Dr. Thomas, I. 
P. Teeter, and Frank Evans. He was widely 
known and universally popular. He was 

24 



twice remarried after the death of his wife, 
first to Mrs. Harshey and again to Mrs. 
Preston. His death occurred in Fort 
Madison. 

Joseph A. Nunn, our subject, began his 
business career as clerk in a store, after leav- 
ing the farm, and conducted a grain busi- 
ness in Fort Madison from 1865 to 1867. 
He then engaged successfully in real estate 
business for a time, also acting as special 
traveling adjuster for a number of insurance 
companies. In 1876 he was appointed dep- 
uty to Sherifif Higgins, of Keokuk, and also 
acted as deputy during his father's incum- 
bency of the office of sherifif. Then in 1880, 
in recognition of his high personal charac- 
ter and his valuable services as an officer of 
the law. he was elected sherifif of Lee county, 
which office he held for a period of four 
years. At the expiration of this term he 
purchased a farm in Washington township, 
where he resided for three years, but con- 
tinued traveling, however, in the interest of 
insurance. In 1888 he returned to Fort 
Madison, and has made his home in this city 
continuously since. One of the great diffi- 
culties Mr. Nunn has had to overcome in 
making his own way in the world is ill 
health, and few would have succeeded in 
spite of this handicap as thoroughly as he 
has done. For six }ears he was compelled 
to retire altogether from active business, but 
in 1902 was again alile to resume the care 
of his realty and insurance interests. 

At Fort Madison April 18, 1866, Mr. 
Numi was united in marriage with Miss 
Elizabeth McCalmont Espy, of I'>anklin, 
Pennsylvania. She was born February 22, 
1841, and her lamented death occurred April 



396 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



26, 1903. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Nunn were 
born ten children, all of whom are living. 
They are: John Espy, who is associated 
with his father in the insurance business and 
is also assistant county surveyor; Ralph A., 
who is engaged in insurance work in St. 
Louis : Mary Luella, a music teacher; Emma 
Josephine is the wife of Edward Whitcomb, 
of Fort Madison, and they have four chil- 
dren, Ruth, Fay, Jessie. Luella; Thomas 
Emmet, who married Lena Inkman, of Fort 
Madison, and has one child, Ruth Eliza- 
beth, wife of Breton L. Safer, of Heniy 
county, a farmer, is the mother of two chil- 
dren, Helen Marie and Joseph Murace; 
Charity Edgell, wife of Ralph K. Davis, 
druggist, of St. Louis; Joseph A., of Fort 
Madison; Louise, of St. Louis; and Louis 
B., of Fort Madison. 

Mr. Nunn is, in his fraternal relations, 
a member of Claypoole Lodge, No. 13. Free 
and Accepted Masons, of Damascus Com- 
mandery, Knights Templar, of Keokuk, and 
is a charter member of Gem City Lodge of 
Knights of Pythias. In his political life he 
has always been a loyal supporter of the 
Democratic party and a firm believer in its 
basic principles. The family are members of 
St. Joseph's Catholic church, as was also the 
deceased 'wife and mother. The residence 
is at 1033 Sixth street. 

The ambition of Mr. Nunn's earlier years 
was to become a member of the profession 
of law, and at one time he pursued a course 
of study which prepared him for entrance 
into the law school of the University of 
Michigan at Ann Arbor, but the failure of 
his health prevented consummation of the 
project. He has gone forward, however. 



v.ith determination to win over all obstacles, 
and his life has been highly successful in 
the best senses of the word. He has a large 
circle of friends who respect him for his 
energy, loyalty and upright character and 
admire him for his talents and achievements. 



CHARLES N. RABER. 

Charles N. Raber, who is now residing 
on his pleasantly situated farm of 100 acres 
on section 17, Jackson township, was born 
November 24, 1857, at Warsaw, Illinois, and 
is the son of Christian Raber, a native of 
Baden, Germany, who came with his parents 
to the United States when five or six years 
of age and settled in Ohio, where the grand- 
father, who was a farmer and distiller, spent 
the remainder of his life. Christian Raber, 
father of our subject, early came westward 
to Iowa, and here he learned the trade of 
coopering and after his marriage removed 
to Warsaw, Illinois, where Charles N. Raber 
was born, and where he remained until our 
sul)ject was about twelve years of age, when 
he returned to Iowa and for three years 
managed what is now the White Oak vine- 
yard. This was a very large and important 
enterprise, and included the making of wine, 
the vintage of the year 1871 being 71,000 
gallons. On relinquishing this employment 
Mr. Raber's father removed to the Sanford 
farm north of Hamilton. Illinois, and two 
years later to the small farm on which he 
now resides, the location being on the Hilton 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



397 



road near Keokuk. He is now in the sixty- 
ninth year of his age. 

While at his father's liome last referred 
to, Mr. Raber was employed in connection 
with a dairw driving a wagon for ^Ir. In- 
gersoll and ^Ir. S. Putnam, and on their 
removal to California lie bought the busi- 
ness, which he conducted for eight years, 
hut at the end of that time, finding the enter- 
prise unprofitable, was obliged to discontinue 
it, and for a time rented land and engaged 
in farming. Later, on the return of his fath- 
er-in-l.'iw. Mr. Putman, from Calif(imia, he 
again worked for him in the dairy business 
initil February, 1899, when he purchased of 
Frank Harshman the farm on which he 
now resides, and here he has since made his 
home continuously, conducting farming 
operations to some extent, but on account of 
ill health sub-renting a portion of his land. 

On February 15, 1883, Mr. Raber was 
united in marriage to Miss Edith Putnam, 
and to them have been born six children, of 
whom two died in infancy, and those living 
are Arthur, employed in a packing house 
at Omaha. Nebraska; and three daughters, 
Elcy, Ethel, and Mary, who are members 
of their father's household. Mrs. Raber and 
the two oldest daughters are members of the 
Sugar Creek Christian church, while Mr. 
Raber is devoted to the cause of right and 
justice in all their aspects, and has always 
been a believer in the duty of the citizen to 
make a study of questions affecting the pub- 
lic and to assist, with whatever ability he may 
possess, in their solution. He has never 
aspired to the holding of public office, al- 
though at the solicitation of friends he has 
for two terms faithfully discharged the duties 



of road supervisor, but in order to perform 
his part in local government he has been 
\'ery active in the work of the Republican 
party, and at the present time holds the im- 
portant office of chairman of its township 
committee. He is well known throughout 
this section, and is esteemed by all who know 
him for his thoroughly conscientious atti- 
tude in all the affairs of life, especially in 
matters touching the welfare of others. 



FREDERICK SCHWITE. 

.\ prominent retired representative of 
the building interests of Keokuk is Frederick 
Schwite. Mr. Schwite received a good com- 
mon-school education in his native land, 
having been born in Germany. The date 
of his birth was Januan,- 30, 1833, and in 
1854 he set out for America, resolved to try 
his fortune in the New World. He made 
the trip in a sailing vessel, embarking at 
Bremen and arriving at New Orleans after 
a voyage of nine weeks' duration. In the 
winter of that year he came north by boat 
on the Mississippi river, and arrived at Keo- 
kuk March i, i<855. Here he worked at 
liis trade as a stonemason, which lie had 
learned in Germany, until he became some- 
what acquainted with local conditions, when 
he began contracting for stone work. 
Among the ])rincipal structures erected by 
Mr. Schwite are the church edifice of B'Nai 
Israel, the Ayers building, the Pond Cold- 
Storage building, a inimber of other busi- 



398 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



ness houses and many residence buildings. 

Although successful in his undertakings 
from the first, when the Civil War began 
Mr. Schwite abandoned his growing busi- 
ness, and volunteered for the sei-vice of his 
adopted country. Enlisting at Keokuk un- 
der Captain Rice, he was drilled here Ijy 
Colonel Juliet, a French officer, after which 
he proceeded to St. Louis, where on May i, 
1 86 1. he entered Company H, Fifteenth Mis- 
souri Infantry, and served with the Army 
of the Cumberland for the long period of 
three years and three months. Among the 
more noted battles in which he was engaged 
were those at Pea Ridge, Corinth, Mill 
Creek, Kentucky; Murphreesboro, Chatta- 
nooga, Resaca and Atlanta. During the 
greater part of the year 1863 he was ren- 
dered unfit for duty by illness, having con- 
tracted malaria. For about two months he 
was an inmate of the general field hospital 
at Stevenson, Alabama, and was also for a 
time in Louisville, Nashville and Jefferson 
Barracks hospitals. His term of enlistment 
expired while he was at Atlanta, and be- 
ing still incapacitated by illness, he was hon- 
orably discharged. At Big Shanty, Georgia, 
while doing guard duty at night he had the 
misfortune to fall into a ditch, not being 
able to see his way in the darkness, and sus- 
tained injuries from which he has never 
recovered. For this cause and in recognition 
of his faithful services, he receives from the 
United States government a monthly pen- 
sion of seventeen dollars. 

On leaving the amiy Mr. Schwite re- 
turned to Keokuk, and resumed building and 
contracting. Tliis calling he pursued with 
much success until 1900, when on« account 
of the increasing weight of years he decided 



to retire from active business life. Since 

that time he has been living in well-earned 
ease at the home which he has built at 1422 
Morgan street. 

At Keokuk in 1857, Mr. Schwite mar- 
ried Miss Minnie Mishol, who, like him- 
self, was of German birth. She is now de- 
ceased, her death having occurred in 1903, 
and is buried in the Catholic cemetery of 
Keokuk. To Mr. and Mrs. Schwite were 
born five sons and three daughters, as fol- 
lows : Charles, Frederick, William, Ed- 
ward, Harry, now deceased; Sarah, Nellie 
and Kate, who is the wife of William Carr- 
lin. of Keokuk. The family are members of 
Saint Francis de Sales congregation of the 
Catholic church. 

The parents of Mr. Schwite are both 
deceased, their demise having occurred in 
Germany. The father was a contractor and 
builder. One brother. Charles, is a resident 
of Keokuk, where he follows the trade of 
stonemason. 

Mr. Schwite is a member of Torrence 
Post, Grand Army of the Republic, of Keo- 
kuk. He has many friends, and is popular 
for his upright and honorable career and for 
the generosity and friendliness of his nature. 



W. E. HARRISON. 

W. E. Harrison, whose intense and well- 
directed activity has been one of the force- 
ful factors in the industrial life of Fort Mad- 
ison, i? the president of the Fort Madison 
Chair Compau}-, manager of its works. He 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



399 



was one of the original private firm of fonr 
members out of whicli grew tlie present or- 
ganizations. This original firm was composed 
of Captain J. T. Soule. Dr. J. A. Smith, W. 
H. Kretsinger and Mr. Harrison, and was 
in the business of manufacturing fariiiing 
tools. emplo\ing convict labor. It dated 
from as far back as 1867. In 1876 was ef- 
fected the incorporation of the Fort Aladi- 
son Chair Company, and since that date the 
two Ijranches of the Inisiness have been con- 
ducted under separate managements. The 
volume of business conducted by the original 
concern was quite large, as it employed all 
the con\ icts in the Fort Madison prison. In 
the reorganization of 1876 only Mr. Harri- 
son and Dr. Smith became interested in the 
chair company, Mr. Kretsinger taking the 
tool manufacturing business. The present 
stockholders are W. E. Harrison, James C. 
Brewster, the estate of Joseph A. Smith, J. 
H. Kinsley and H. P. Gibbs. 

W. E. Harrison was born at Rodney, 
Mississippi, November 22, 1846, and is the 
son of E. H. Harrison, a native of New 
Jersey, who came to Keokuk in iS_;(), and 
was engaged in business there as a banker 
and as a wholesale merciiant until his death 
in 1877. The mother was Marie E. (Lewis) 
Harrison. She was born in Loudoun countv, 
A'irginia, and the date of her death was 
July. 1894. There were three children — W. 
E. Harrison, Mrs. J. L. Rfiot, of Keokuk, 
and L. R. Harrison, of New York city. 

Mr. Harrison received his education in 
a private classical school at Keokuk, and in 
the State University at Iowa City. May 2, 
1877, he was united in marriage at Fort 
Madi.son, to Miss Elizabeth Hamilton, who 



was born in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, Au- 
gust 4, 1854. JJnto them has been born one 
child, a daughter, Helen Hamilton Harri- 
son, the date of her birth h^mg February 8, 
1878. Her education has been conducted at 
Rockford. Illinois and at Chicago, she be- 
ing a gxaduate of Chicago Musical College. 
Miss Harrison has unusual talent as a violin- 
ist, and her ability in this direction has been 
favorably remarked upon by eminent critics. 
The family home is at 313 Elm street. 

Mr. Harrison was reared- in the L^nitarian 
faith. In politics he is a consistent Repub- 
lican, giving his support to that party in 
all issues of importance. He comes of old 
and patriotic ancestry. The founder of the 
family in America was Richard Harrison, 
Sr., who was one of the founders of Brad- 
ford, Connecticut, in 1644. and his son, 
Richard. Jr., was one of the founders of 
Newark, New Jersey. Our subject takes a 
just pride in the fact that he is a descendant 
of Lynn Gardner, who commanded the first 
fort erected on the New England coast. Fort 
Saybrook. His grandfatiier, Ste])lien Harri- 
son, was one of the heroes of our earl\' na- 
tional life, having been a soldier of the Rev- 
olutionary War. 

W. E. Harrison is a stockholder in the 
i.ee County Savings Bank, but otherwise he 
ha>; few interests at jiresenl outside his nv.n- 
ufacturing business, although in the p'lsi he 
has been connected with other manufactur- 
ing interests, and it is almo.st" entirely due to 
his untiring care and watchfulness that the 
chrn'r company owes it.*; present proportions. 
One innidred and fifty men are constantly 
em]3lf)yed, comjjrising both free and convict 
labor, with an output of about forty dozen 



400 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



chairs per day, or an aggregate business of 
about $100,000 per annum.^ In terms of 
carload lots the product of the factory is 
approximately 150 cars per annum. The 
company has resident agents in California, 
commission agents in Missouri, Iowa and 
Illinois, and salaried salesmen in Kansas, 
Nebraska and Texas. While acquiring for 
himself material wealth Mr. Harrison has, 
in fostering this important industry, done 
much for Fort Madison, and richly deserves 
the reputation for ability and strict upright- 
ness, as well as the wide popularity, which 
he enjoys. 



JAY W. FAULKNER. 

Especial honor belongs to those who in 
time of war served the nation's need and in 
days of peace have contributed by strength 
of arm and toil of brain to the building up 
of her prosperity and her proud position 
among the empires and peoples of the earth. 
Along these lines runs the life histor\' of 
the subject of this review. Jay W. Faulk- 
ner was born April 3, 1846, at Fort Wayne, 
Indiana, and there passed his boyhood days 
and secured his schooling. He is the son of 
George and Eliza (Blake) Faulkner. The 
father, a carpenter and joiner, was born at 
Rochester, New York, and died at Hamil- 
ton, Indiana, about the year 1855. The 
mother was bom at Canandaigtia, New 
York, and died in 1894 at Goodland, In- 
diana. Unto them were born six children, 
of whom two survive, these being our sub- 



ject and John Faulkner, of Michigan, a 
master mechanic in the employ of the Chi- 
cago & Lake Huron Railway Company. 
Two of the brothers lost their lives in war, 
Henry being killed at Chickamauga, and 
James, who was a member of the Eighth 
Iowa Cavalry, dying at Fort Henry, Ten- 
nessee. 

At the age of twenty years, ^Ir. Faulk- 
ner entered the Pittsburg, Fort Wayne & 
Chicago railwaj' shops for the purpose of 
learning the trade of machinist ; but this 
work not proving suited to his tastes, he 
abandoned it, and became a locomotive fire- 
man for the same company, itmning be- 
tween Fort Wayne and Valparaiso. In this 
capacity he continued for five years, at the 
end of which time he was promoted to the 
position of engineer. In 1879 he severed 
this connection, and engaged with the Santa 
Fe system as engineer of construction work 
out of Trinidad, Colorado. After assist- 
ing in the construction of 350 miles of track 
from Trinidad to El Paso, Texas, and Dem- 
ing. New Mexico, he was assigned to duty 
as a passenger engineer between Mattoon 
and Wallace, was later transferred to the To- 
peka-Xickerson run, and in February. 1887, 
was sent to the eastern division of the sys- 
tem at Streator, Illinois. Here he did con- 
struction work until the road was completed 
to Chicago, when he took the first passenger 
train over the division — from Fort Madison 
to Chicago — on January i, 1888, and this 
has been the scene of his labors ever since, 
he having charge of train No. 7, the Fast 
Mail, and X^o. 8, the California and Te.xas 
Express. 

In his railroading experiences Mr. 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



401 



Foulkner lias met with mishaps, as is tlie 
fate of all men of his calling-, but no shadow 
of blame has ever attached to him because 
of accident. On March 18, 1888, while run- 
nins^' train No. 7 out of Chicago, he was 
shot in the right hand by bandits in an ef- 
fort to rob his train. In consequence of this 
encounter it became necessary to amputate 
two fingers of one of his hands, but he 
brought the train into Fort Madison on time, 
and in a personal letter from Superintendent 
Nixon received thirty days' credit of salan,- 
for his heroic action. He acted as engineer 
for the train conveying President Roose- 
velt from Chicago to Peoria, and for the 
character of his services received a letter of 
commendation from Trainmaster C. L. 
Short. He also possesses a commendatory 
letter from Superintendent Nixon for his 
successful and rapid run of a train bearing 
the President and board of directors from 
Chicago to Shopton, Iowa. December 8. 
1897. This letter speaks especially of his 
effective handling of the air brakes. 

At the beginning of the Civil War, Jay 
W. Faulkner, then a mere boy, enlisted at 
Fort Wayne, September 23, 1862, under 
Captain Hoy and Colonel Zollinger, and was 
assigned to the l*"irst Ilrigade, Second Divi- 
sii)n. of the TwcntN-third Army Corjjs, un- 
der the command of General Schofield. He 
look part in ten general engagements, besides 
skirmishes. On December 15, 1864, he was 
wounded by a gunshot, having his right 
hand crippled, and was discharged on ac- 
count of the resulting disability May 8, 
1865, returning home in September. 

In addition to having real estate inter- 
ests in Indiana, Mr. Faulkner owns a farm 
of 160 acres in Slnwnec cnunty, Kansas, 



and is a stockholder in the Ideal Farm Im- 
plement Company, manufacturers, at Knowl- 
ton, Iowa. This company manufactures the 
Climax Corn Cutter and Shocker, a com- 
bination hay rake and loader, and the Eureka 
Kaffir Corn and Sorghum header, and Mr. 
Faulkner is the inventor of these machines, 
having worked out his plans, made tests in 
the fields, secured the patents and organized 
the company with a capitalization of $50,- 
000 while at the same time making his reg- 
ular runs as a passenger engineer. 

Mr. Faulkner is a member of the Broth- 
erhood of Trainmen, and has similar rela- 
tions with the Improved Order of Red Men. 
In politics he is a Republican, having been 
a member of that party all his life. Indeed, 
his first vote, at or near Decatur, Alabama, 
when he was a member of the Union army, 
was cast for Abraham Lincoln before he at- 
tained his majority. He was, in fact, but 
eighteen years of age. This early loyalty to 
principles in which he believed has been 
characteristic of him in all the relations of 
life. His ability and talents have brought 
him success, and his just and genial disposi- 
tion have brought him friends and a wide 
circle of acquaintance and popularity. He 
is a citizen of whom Fort Madison may well 
he jiroud. 



JOHN LHISY. 



John Lcisy, the Kec^kuk representative 
of the Leisy Brewing Company, of Peoria, 
Illinois, of which lie is a partner, was born 
in this city, March 17. iS()_'. his parents be- 



402 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



ing John and Cliristina fShowalter) Leisy. 
The father was l)orn in Germany, July 4, 
1835. and came to America in the year 
1856, settHng at Franklin Prairie. Lee 
county, Iowa, where he engaged in farming 
for one or two years. He then remo\'ed to 
Keokuk and forming a partnership, estah- 
lished a hrewery conducted under the name 
of Baehr & Leisy Brothers, his brother 
Isaac lieing also interested in the business. 
There were several brothers of the family 
who came to the United States, most of 
them after John Leisy's arrival, namely : 
Abraham. Jacob, August. Isaac, Rudolph 
and Henry. Isaac Leisy afterward became 
the proprietor of an extensive brewery in 
Cleveland, Ohio, while Abraham and Jacob 
became residents of Lee county, Iowa, and 
Abraham is yet living near Do\'er. this state. 
Rudolph, Heiu'y and August Leisy went to 
Nebraska and were stock dealers and bank- 
ers, of Wisner. 

LTnto John and Christina (Showalter) 
Leisy were born four sons and a daughter : 
Gustav, Edward. John, Lena, wife of Jacob 
Schwellbacher, of Peoria. The father. 
John Lei.sy, Sr., died in 1873, and following 
his demise his brother, Randolph, managed 
the business in Keokuk. Gusta\', Edward 
and John Leisy, of this review, entered the 
brewery as soon as old enough, learned the 
business in every detail, and as soon as al)le 
took charge of the plant, which they con- 
ductcil with success until the Prohibition law 
went into effect, \\hen the brewery was 
closed down. The brDthers went to Peoria, 
Illinois, in June, 1884, and there established 
a large brewing plant untler the name of the 



Leisy Brewing Company, and since the 4th 
of July of that year John Leisy has had 
charge of the distributing depot at Keokuk. 
He is a partner with his brothers in the 
business, which has become a profitable en- 
terprise, with a large annual output and 
profitable sales. 

Mr. Leisy was married October 8, 190 1, 
to Margaret Weisemann, a daughter of 
Charles and Anna Weisemann. 



JACOB C. McCABE. 



Jacob McCabe. a scion of old and hon- 
ored pioneer stock of Iowa, and now a lead- 
ing resident of W^est Point township, Lee 
county, was born September 13, 1836, in 
Preble county, Ohio, and is the grandson of 
\\'arren McCabe, of Sussex county, Dela- 
ware, who was one of the pioneers of Preble 
county and successfully conducted a farm 
there at an early day, his death occurring 
in the seventy-fifth year of his age. The 
father of Mr. McCabe was Arthur McCabe, 
who was born in Sussex county. Delaware, 
August 18, 1810, and when fifteen years of 
age removed with his parents to Eaton, 
Preble county, Ohio, remaining at the paren- 
tal home until twenty-one vears of age, when 
he went to Lebanon, Ohio, where he engaged 
in the manufacture of fanning mills and in 
October. 1835. married Miss Susan Christ, 
daughter of Jacob Christ, of Stanton, Au- 
gusta county. Ohio. The mother of our 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



405 



subject was born July 16, 1817, and removed 
with her mother, whose maiden name was 
Mowery, to Preble county, where she was 
married to ]\Ir. McCabe. They soon after 
their marriage purchased a small farm near 
Eaton, on which they resided until the au- 
tumn of 1836, when, deciding to imitate the 
example of their forefathers, they came 
westward to cast their fortunes in new and 
imdeveloped territory, settling in W^est Point 
township, Lee county, Iowa, and here Mr. 
McCabe passed the remainder of his life as 
a hard-working farmer, in which vocation 
he was ver\- successful, and accumulated 400 
acres of very fine agriailtural lands. He 
and his wife were connected with the Meth- 
odist Episcopal denomination, being mem- 
bers of the Pitman Chapel congregation, of 
which he was one of the trustees, and whose 
present place of worship he helped to build. 
Both lie buried in the cemetery of the chapel, 
and their memory is yet recalled by the sur- 
vivors of the generation that followed them, 
for they were famous for their open-handed 
hospitalit}-, their generous support of all 
good causes and their lofty Christian char- 
acter. 

Jacob C. McCabe gained his early knowl- 
edge of books in the public schools of West 
Point township, an education which he has 
since very materially increased by extensive 
reading and oliservation .and while still quite 
young l)egan to assist his father in the w^ork 
of the farm, which was in those days a far 
more difficult and arduous occujiation than 
at the present time, for the task which is now 
easily performed in a few hours by highly 
perfected machinery, then recpiired long 
days of laborous toil ; the mower, binder, 



thresher and hay-loader, as well as many 
other modern conveniences, were uninvented, 
and the sickle, the scythe, the cradle, the 
flail and the walking plow were the main 
implements of husbandry. And in this hard 
school Mr. McCabe learned the lessons which 
fitted him for his later success in life, con- 
tinuing to employ himself on his father's 
farm until his twenty-third year, when he 
was united in marriage to Miss Mary Ann 
Edwards, a native of Ohio and daughter of 
Joseph Edwards. Mr. Edwards was l)orn 
in the State of New York, and early re- 
moved to the vicinity of Lebanon, Warren 
county, Ohio, where his boyhood was passed, 
and where he married Miss Huldah Marie 
Hathaway on November 4, 1823, and they 
continued to reside in Ohio until 1854, when 
thev removed to Iowa, locating in West 
P(Mnt township. Here tliey made their 
home until 1S75, ^™^ then retired from ac- 
tive life and removed to Fort Madison, 
where he spent the remaining years of his 
life. Mr. Edwards attained the advanced 
age of seventy-three years and three months. 
Mrs. Edwards was a native of New Jersey, 
the date of her birth being January 2, 1802, 
and died in Missouri at the home of her 
granddaughter. 

To Mr. and Mrs. McCalje have been born 
one son and two daughters, as follows : 
Theodora, who died at the age of six years ; 
Arthur, who resides upon his father's farm, 
of which he has the management, married 
J.: liulda. wife of Hervey Hazen, 
son of Hon. J. B. Hazen, ex-repre- 
sentative of Lee county, resides in 
Pleasant Ridge tnwnship. Lee county, 
and has three children. Artlnu-. Ruby Pearl, 



4o6 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



and Harry. After his marriage Mr. McCabe 
purchased a small farm of eighty acres, and 
by industry, care, frugality and keen busi- 
ness foresight and the exercise of sound 
practical judgment has added to the original 
purchase until he now owns 267 acres com- 
prising some of the finest farm land in Lee 
county, and while th^re were almost no 
buildings on the land when he became its 
proprietor, he has erected a large and sub- 
stantial dwelling house, commodious barns, 
and other buildings, and has introduced 
modern improvements in every branch of 
the business. The land is now devoted to 
general farnring and stock raising, and is in 
charge of Mr. McCabe's son, to whom it 
is rented, while he himself lives retired from 
active life in the enjoyment of social inter- 
course with friends and neighbors. He con- 
tinues to take a deep interest in public af- 
fairs, and while he has never cared to hold 
public office, he has given much attention to 
political questions, being active in the work 
of the Republican party. He has also dis- 
played constant readiness throughout his 
long and useful life to aid all charitable and 
philanthropic movements, and in fact has 
contributed generously of his means and 
personal services to every project calailated 
to adx'ance the moral and spiritual condition 
of mankind, and he and Mrs. McCabe are 
faithful members of Pitman Chapel congre- 
gation of the Methodist church, of which he 
is a trustee, while both are widely known 
in Lee county as people of the most exem- 
plar}- Christian character, and have a host 
of friends who hold them in respect and 
affection. 



WILLIAM SCOTT HAMILTON. 

In all the various activities of modern 
life no function is more important to society 
than that performed by the man who holds 
and directs the threads of the complicated 
relations which bind its members one to an- 
other — in a word, who studies and interprets 
its laws. For those who elect to serve their 
fellowmen in this capacity, bright rewards 
are waiting. This truth is finely and ade- 
quately exemplified in the life and career of 
one of the native sons of Lee county. 

Mr. Hamilton was born on a farm near 
Fort Madison, this county, his natal day be- 
ing February 2, 1857, and is the son of John 
Scott and Sarah (Miller) Hamilton, who 
were pioneers and people of prominence and 
standing in the community. The father was 
a native of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, and it 
was in that city that he received his edu- 
cation, and later took up the study of law 
and was admitted to practice in the courts. 
Although a man of great intellectual gifts, 
he was willing to renounce the prospect of 
honors which he knew awaited him, in the 
cause of patriotism, and at the beginning of 
the Me.xican War he tendered his services 
to the nation. At the close of the conflict 
he married Miss Sarah Miller, and continued 
to reside in Pittsburg until 185 1, when they 
removed to this county. Here he was one 
of the leading practitioners of Fort Madi- 
son and a prominent member of the Demo- 
cratic party of his state, having been a mem- 
ber of the state legislature at the time of 
his deatii. His death, the circumstances of 
which were directly connected with his public 



LEE COUNTY, lOlVA. 



407 



activities, was the result of an accident, and 
was caused by the explosion of a cannon 
used in celebrating the election of President 
Buchanan, who was a personal friend of 
Mr. Hamilton's. The death of Sarah Mil- 
ler Hamilton occurred in 1903. Both were 
members of the Presbyterian church, and 
Mr. Hamilton was of the Scotch-Irish stock 
which has given to our nation so many of 
its most highly useful and distinguished 
men. 

William Scott Hamilton received his 
preliminary education in the public schools 
of Fort Madison, and later continued his 
training at Knox College and at Amherst 
College, having been graduated from the lat- 
ter institution with the class of '76. During 
his college life he was prominent in athletics, 
especially in gymnasium work, and took 
part in one of the first regattas, that of 1874, 
the event having been inaugurated only in 
1872. His fraternity membership is in the 
Society of Delta Kappa Epsilon, and also 
Phi Delta Theta, being one of the few men 
in the country who is a member of two 
Greek letter societies. During the year fol- 
lowing his graduation from college he acted 
as principal of the high school of Fort Mad- 
' ison, and the two succeeding years were 
spent in European travel. On his return to 
America he began the study of law with 
John Scott Ferguson, a prominent attorney 
of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, and was there 
admitted to the bar in 1880. In 1883 he 
located in Lincoln, Nebraska, and during 
the fifteen years of his residence at that place 
succeeded, by virtue of strict attention to 
his chosen work and by the exercise of nat- 
ural talents of an unusual order, in secur- 



ing one of the largest and most profitable 
clienteles in the city. It was in 1898 that 
he returned to l'"iirt Madison, the home of 
his youth, and here he immediately assumed 
;m extensi\e practice. His brother, J. D. 
M. Hamilton, Iia\ing received ajjpointment 
to the position of claims attorney for the 
Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway 
Company, Mr. Hamilton formed a partner- 
ship with him, and this connection was main- 
tained until the removal of the former to 
Topeka, Kansas. 

.^fter the dissolution of the partnership 
with his brother, Mr. Hamilton continued 
his work alone in Fort Madison, with his 
usual success. He is at the present time at- 
torney for the .\tchison, Topeka & Santa 
Fe Railway Company, and, exclusive of the 
duties of his official position, the volume of 
his legal business is among the largest in the 
county. The enviable nature of his standing 
here is reflected in the fact that he is pres- 
ident of the Fort Madison Bar Association. 
Since returning to Lee county he has con- 
fined his activities to strictly professional 
lines, but while a resident of Lincoln he sus- 
tained quite a marked degree of prominence 
in the politics of the city, acting with the 
Re])ublican party, ser\-ing his ward as its 
representative in the city council and being 
elected to the office of city attorney. As 
chairman of the Republican congressional 
and county central committees he was, of 
necessity and by force of his decided opin- 
ions in matters of politics, largely instrumen- 
tal in shaping and determining the policy 
of the party in that section. 

i'raternnlly Mr. Hamiltun became a 
member of the Masonic order in Lodge No. 



4o8 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



54. at Linc(iln, Nebraska, and now holds his 
membership in Claypoole Lodge of the order 
at Fort Madison. At Lincohi he was also 
a member of the Knights of Pythias, was 
Chancellor Commander of his lodge, and 
Grand Chancellor of the State of Nebraska. 

Jn February, 1878, Mr. Hamilton was 
united in marriage with Miss Belle V. Casey, 
daughter of the late Judge J. M. Casey, a 
sketch of whose life and genealogy appears 
on another page. To them have been born 
three sons and two daughters, as follows : 
Ruth, wife of li. D. E\'eringham. of Fort 
Madison ; J. M. Casey, now a member of 
the Iowa State University; John Scott, who 
is a graduate of Fort Madison high school ; 
Sabert, now in high school ; and Sarah. The 
family occupies a beautiful home on Sixth 
street. Our subject is an attendant and sup- 
porter of the Baptist church, of which Mrs. 
Hamilton is a member. 

William Scott Hamilton is a broad- 
minded man, honorable and honored, and 
in every relation of life, political, social and 
professional, merits the high regard which 
he uniformly receives, and is thoroughly de- 
serving of that success which has always 
attended his efiforts. 



ROBERT H. HART. 



Robert H. Flart. overseer of the poor 
farm of Lee county, Iowa, was born in 
1865, near the I'ity of Springfield, Sanga- 
mon countv, Illinois, and when thirteen 



years of age came with his parents to Lee 
county, where he receix-ed his education in 
the common schools, and grew to manhood 
in the practice of industrj' and devotion to 
the task at hand. He is the son of Samuel 
and Penina J. ( Neece) Hart, both natives 
of Sangamon county, and they made their 
home in Keokuk with the father, who was 
a school teacher, until his death, in 1885. 
The mother, who is still living, is now a 
resident of Hamilton, Illinois, and has been 
remarried, her second husband being C. \V. 
Self. The family was composed of five chil- 
ilren. of whom three are now living, the two 
besides our subject being Curtis M.. of Sum- 
mitville, Iowa, and Otis, of Hamilton, 
Illinois. 

INIr. Hart was employed as a laborer all 
his active life until being appointed to his 
present important position, and since the 
age of seventeen has been engaged in the 
work of the poor farm in various capacities, 
with the exception of two or three years 
spent in other work. For a time he lived 
in Keokuk, where he was foreman of the 
Rees-Sansone Bag Factory, in which posi- 
tion he achieved considerable success anrl 
demontrated himself to be the possessor of 
unusual exccuti\e ability and talent for the 
management of large afifairs. His connec- 
tion with the Lee county jjoor farm dates 
from 1883. when he entered its service as 
a farm hand under the admiiu'stration of 
Overseer .\\-is Miles, and later he became 
an attendant in the insane v.-ard, while for 
two years he acted as cook. On April i, 
1904, he was api)ointed to the office of over- 
seer on the retirement of Frederick Korsch- 
gen, who had filled the position for the 



LEE COUNTY. IOWA. 



409 



previous eighteen years, atul who recom- 
mended the appointment of Mr. Hart as be- 
ing eminently fitted for the many arduous 
and complex duties invohed in the manage- 
ment of this great institution, and as merit- 
ing promotion by reason of his long, faith- 
ful and highly efficient service in other 
capacities. 

On January 28, 1886, Mr. Hart was 
united in marriage to Miss Hannah Isabel 
Laurinson, who was born in Lee county, 
the daughter of William and Melissa ( Phil- 
lips) Laurinson, the former of whom, her 
father having died when she was five years 
of age, ami the mother ha\-ing since twice 
remarried, first to H. H. Thompson, and 
subsequent to his death to J. \V. Wiley, with 
whom she now resides, in Oregon. To Mr. 
and Mrs. Hart have been born two children, 
a son, Sherman E., and a tlaughter. 
Hazel H. 

Mr. Hart is a very prominent member of 
the Democratic party in Lee county, and a 
loyal supporter of its chosen leaders and 
zealous worker in its ranks, having served 
as delegate to county and state conventions 
for the past ten years, and having, while a 
resident of Montrose townshij), acted for 
three years as chairman of the township 
committee, performing in this capacity much 
valuable work for bis party. Fraternally he 
has extensive connections, being a Master 
Mason of Lodge, No. 136, of Montrose, a 
member of Keokuk Lodge, No. 13, Inde- 
pendent Order of Odd Fellows, and of 
Camp, No. 4594, Modern Woodmen of 
America, of Summitville, of which he is 
Cam]) Banker: and of the Keokuk Lodge of 
the Knights and Ladies of Security. 



In the insane ward of the Lee county 
poor farm under Mr. 1 i;irt's charge are three 
male and sixteen female patients, while for 
the remainder of the institution the propor- 
tions are thirty-eight and twenty-three, male 
and female resiiectively, a total of eighty in- 
mates. The farm, which contains 250 acres, 
has been substantially improved <luring the 
last few months, the buildings an<l fences 
thoroughly repaired and the external appear- 
ance of the farm much altered for the bet- 
ter in many respects. Mr. Hart is doing e.x- 
cellent work and giving splendid service as 
overseer, and will doubtless, bv reason of 
his aljility and his familiarity with the farm, 
be retained for a long term of years. He is 
ably assisted by his wife in caring for the 
tmfortunates who come under his charge, 
and their mutual efforts promise to elevate 
the institutiiiu to a standard of efficiency 
that will refiect credit upon themselves and 
u))i)n the public spirit of the citizens to 
whom it owes its support. 



THOMAS KENNEDY. 

Thomas Kennedy, who is now residing 
on his highly improved farm of 160 acres 
on section 7, Jackson township, Lee county, 
was born June 6, 1849, in Birmingham, 
Pennsylvania, the son of Edward and Eliza- 
l)eth (Linnihan) Kennedy. Both parents 
were natives of Ireland, the father having 
been horn in County Tipperary, emigrating 
thence to the Kevstone state, where his 



4IO 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



marriage was celebrated, coming west in 
1852 and locating temporarily in Lee 
county, and after a six months' residence 
here removing to Clark county. Missouri. 
Although a carpenter by trade, he engaged 
in farming in Clark county, where he pur- 
chased a tract of 640 acres of land, of which, 
however, he later sold all except 120 acres, 
on which he lived in the successful pursuit 
of his vocation until liis death, which oc- 
curred in 1865. His wife survived him 
many vears, the date of her demise being 
1889. To them were born five sons and 
daughters, as follows : John, who is now a 
resident of Montana ; James, who ocaipies 
the home farm in Clark county, Missouri ; 
Thomas, our subject ; Ellen, deceased ; Mary, 
the wife of John Clark, of Clark county. 
Missouri. 

In Clark county, Missouri, our subject 
received his early education in the public 
schools, and grew to manhood's estate in 
1:he practice of the virtues imposed by the 
necessity of independent effort, for he was 
but fifteen years of age when the death of 
his father depri\'ed the family of its head 
and left him as the main protector and sup- 
port of its younger members. He met the 
duties thus cast upon his youthful shoulders 
with that ability and fortitude which have 
marked his wliolc career, applying himself 
to the task before him with energy, assidu- 
ity and careful, considerate judgment, and 
achieving a success of which any man might 
well be proud. For twelve years he devoted 
himself to the care of the family, remaining 
at home until his twenty-seventh year, and it 
was in 1877 that he came to Lee county. 
Avhere for the first two years he cultivated 



rented land and at the end of that time pur- 
chased his present large farm, on which he 
has since resided continuously. Here he has 
introduced many improvements, has brought 
the land to a high state of productivity, and 
has established a pleasant home in which he 
enjoys the fruits of his long life of worthy 
and honorable toil, having erected a sub- 
stantial and handsome residence in 1898. 
He successfully carries on farming accord- 
ing to accepte.d modern theories, and makes 
a specialty of raising stock for the general 
market. 

At St. Peter's church, Keokuk, No- 
Aember 19, 1877, Mr. Kennedy was united 
in marriage to Mrs. Kate Gorman, widow 
of John Gorman, who was born in Ireland, 
coming to Keokuk August 19, 1869, and 
was for a time employed as an engineer on 
the Rock Island Railway. At Santiago, Cal- 
ifornia, whither he had gone for the benefit 
nf his health, Mr. Gorman died December 
15. 1874, survived by one son and one 
daughter, the elder being Mary, now the 
wife of Edward Bevering, of Keokuk, and 
she has four children, Mary, Edward, Gor- 
man and Margaret. John, the son, is now 
engaged in railroad work in California, and 
is a veteran of the Spanish-American War, 
having served as a soldier in the Philippine 
Islands as a member of the First Regiment 
of Idaho Volunteer InfantiT. Mrs. Ken- 
nedy was born at Zanesville, Ohio, Decem- 
ber 26. 1846, and removed with her parents 
to Clark county, Missouri, in 1856. She is 
the daughter of Peter and Ann (Riley) Mc- 
Guire. who were married in the city of New 
York, whither the father had emigrated 
from his native country of Ireland, and the 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



411 



deaths of lioth parents occurred in Clark 
county, where they had always made their 
home since coming to the West. To Mr. 
and Mrs. Kennedy liave been born six chil- 
dren. Edward Paul, Jo.seph T., Maude Ann, 
\'incent, Grace Catherine and Alice, and 
all the members of the family are members 
of St. Peter's Catholic church of Keokuk. 

All his life Mr. Kennedy has shown him- 
self the possessor of a civic virtue which is 
especially valuable in a country enjoying- a 
republican form of govenmient, namely, 
public spirit, and he has ever displayed a 
lively interest in all matters affecting the 
welfare of the communities in which he has 
resided, taking part in political action as a 
member of the Democratic party and fre- 
quently serving that organization as dele- 
gate to the county conventions. In Lee 
count}- he has been elected to the offices of 
road supervisor and school director, and in 
Clark county, Misosuri, he served a period 
of eight years as road overseer and four 
years as constable, exhibiting in these 
various positions the same attention and 
faithfulness to duty which have made him 
successful in private life and which have 
Avon him the good opinion of his ac<|uaint- 
ances, neighbors and friends. 



WILLIAM SKINNER. 

Through a long term of years William 
Skiimer was a resident of Lee county, and 
■was classed with the leading agriculturists 



of this portion of the state. He had to 
enter jnisiness life handicapped to some ex- 
tent by an over-generous temperament 
which often led him to sacrifice his own ma- 
terial interests to those of his friends, and 
yet he achieved a success that many might 
envy. He had the force of character, the 
strong purpose and the laudable ambition 
that enabled him to win prosperity, and, 
moreover, his life was characterized by un- 
faltering honesty and by unremitting loy- 
alty to duty, .so that his name became hon- 
ored and respected by all who knew him. 
His life record covered almost ninety years, 
and he left behind him a name and a mem- 
or)' that are cherislied and re\-ered. 

Mr. Skinner, who was the son of Da\-id 
Duncan Skinner, was born April 5, 1795, 
in Franklin county, Pennsylvania, and there 
he was reared in the work of the farm, which 
occupation he followed throughout his life 
with eminent success, and also received a 
limited education by attending for a short 
time the subscription schools which were 
then in vogue. But although this was the 
whole extent of his formal schooling, his 
remarkable mental acuteness and the broad 
quality of his understanding, together with 
his incessant desire for knowledge and self- 
development, led him to become a great 
reader and a deep student of affairs and to 
acquire a vast and accurate store of informa- 
tion, which rendered him a man of mark and 
distinction in any society. It was amid the 
environments of his native state that his 
mind expanded to its full proportions, for 
he remained in Pennsylvania until his forty- 
ninth year, and there he began his active 
career, and there al.so he wedded Miss Mar- 



412 



BIOGRAPHICAL REJ'IEW 



garet Wilson, of which union were horn two 
sons and two daughters, these being Anne, 
Harriet, ^^'ilson and Daniel. 

The month of March. 1839, witnessed 
the arrival of Mr. Skinner in Lee county, 
and here he entered a great • deal of land 
from the government, as well as purchasing 
a number of claims, so that at one time he 
owned 500 acres of rich farming lands ; but 
through acting as security for numerous 
friends, he lost the greater part of his ex- 
tensive real estate holdings, although at his 
death he was the owner of a very fine farm. 
Mr. Skinner was married twice, he being, 
after the death of his first wife, united with 
Miss Eleonora Farree, daughter of Corne- 
lius Faree, and they became the parents of 
six children, as follows : Isabelle and Mary, 
noA\ deceased, and Sarah, Susan, Josephine 
and John. Mr. and ]Mrs. Skinner traveled 
life's journey together most happily for 
many years, but on I-'ebruary 14, 1885, the 
hand of death removed him from the sphere 
of mortal existence, and she did not long 
survive him, her own demise occurring Jan- 
uary Ti. 1888. The husband was of Scotch 
and English parentage, while the wife was 
of French and German extraction, and wa"s 
a native of Hagerstown, Maryland, where 
she was born July 25, 1812. and whence 
after the death dl her father she removed 
to Ohio, where she met and married 
Mr. Skinner. .She was a woman of char- 
acter and pleasing personality, and was be- 
loved and respected by many friends in the 
communities in which her life was passed. 
At his death our .subject left to his daughter. 
Susan, 144 acres of the original "home- 
stead" tract, on which she still resides, and 



which she person.ally manages and superin- 
tends. Miss Skinner was born on the farm 
on \\ hicli -^he has ever since made her home, 
and was educated in the public schools, and 
at the old academy at Fort Madison, after 
which, for about twelve years, she followed 
the profession of teaching, being highly suc- 
cessful anil taking high rank in that pursuit. 
She not only possesses education, culture 
and unusual business ability, but is rich in 
those social qtialities which win friendship 
and high regard. 

Jiis agricultural interests Mr. Skinner 
entrusted largely to the care of a superin- 
tendent, his own time being given principally 
to public affairs, and he was a very active 
and influential member of the Democratic 
party, in whose principles he thoroughly be- 
lieved and whose chosen leaders he always 
supported with great ability and unfailing 
consistency. A man of strong mentality, 
vast information and ever true to his con- 
victions, he ne\er hesitated in the expression 
of his real views on any subject of general 
importance, and never w^avered in their sup- 
port, and it has been said of him that in the 
many political discussions in which he took 
part, he was ahvays prepared with a win- 
ning defence, and that his undisputed lead- 
ership among men was in its fundamentals 
an intellectual one. He also occupies a 
prominent position in the affairs of the Ma- 
sonic Order, of which he was a member of 
long standing, and according to the sub- 
lime morality of its teachings he regulated 
his life, for his character was one of ex- 
alted honor, honesty and the strictest in- 
tegrity in all its phases. By his death Lee 
county lost one of its most honored pio- 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



413 



neers and distiiigxiished citizens and one 
whose memory is universally held in esteem, 
but is dearest of all to the survivors of his 
own family and to the daughter who gave 
her life to his care, for these know by in- 
timate personal association all the wealth. 
-the strength anil the beauty of his 
character. 



HARVEY ALEXANDER SKYLES. 

A worth}- representative of one of the 
hardy pioneer families and of the more pro- 
gressive agricultural element of Lee county, 
is Harvey A. Skyles, who is now serving his 
third consecutive term as trustee of Jeffer- 
son township. Mr. Skyles is. a native son 
of the county, his birth having occurred in 
Jefferson township, November 24, i860, 
and is the son of Thomas and Elizabeth 
(Coulee) Skyles. His father, Thomas 
Skyles, who is at the present time the oldest 
living resident of this township, was bom 
in Greene county, Illinois, and came to this 
locality with his parents in 1836. when but 
three years of age. Here he has passed his 
life as a successful farmer, and has been hon- 
ored by election to the various township of- 
fices, inchnling that of trustee. In matters 
of politics he is a lifelong Democrat, and his 
kn'alt}' and ability have been of material 
benefit and assistance to his party. The 
grandfather, Benjamin Skyles, was' born 
in August, 1810, and died in 1901, at the 
age of ninety-one years, his funeral taking 
place on Christmas day. The mother of our 

25 



subject was born near M.nmmoth Cave, Ken- 
tuck)-, a daughter of Reuben Coulee, who 
came to Iowa in 1836, and settled in Jef- 
ferson townshii) in 1840. He became a 
meniber of the first state legislature of 
Iowa, and his death occurred in Iowa Citv 



during its first session. 



Engaged in the work of his father's 
farni, Harvey A. Skyles grew to manhood 
amid siu-roundings well fitted to form and 
impart those strong, self-reliant ;md ener- 
getic traits of character which have since 
made him successful and respected. Mean- 
while he was acquiring in the public schools 
of his township a good and thoroughly prac- 
tical education, and this he has supple- 
mented by a life of intelligent observation 
and reading. On March 17, .1897, he was 
united in luarriage to Miss Letha Stewart, 
daughter of b'raucis Stewart, a well-known 
pioneer of Jefferson township. Imme- 
diately after his marriage Mr. Skyles pin-- 
chased 152 acres of good land near Veile, 
and there he has since been successfully en- 
gaged in llic business of farming. He also 
gives much time to dealing in farm 
produce, buying and shipping for the gen- 
eral market, and by the exercise of judg- 
ment, foresight and careftd calculation, has 
Ijy this means secm"ed very gratifying finan- 
cial rewards. 

Mr. Skyles has on all occasions mani- 
fested a very progressive tendency, and has 
never failed to sup])ort any proper project 
for the material and moral advancement of 
the community in which he lives. ?Ie was 
one of the organizers of the \''eile Telephone 
Company, and on the first election of of- 
ficers was made president and general man- 



414 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



ager and bore an active share in the instal- 
lation of the line and system. In his fra- 
ternal connection he is a member of the 
Modem Woodmen of America, and po- 
litically he is a firm believer in the principles 
advocated by the Democratic party and a 
stanch snpporter of its chosen leaders, hav- 
ing in addition served his party as dele- 
gate to various important conventions. He 
enjoys a high degree of popularity, and has 
received a number of public trusts, includ- 
ing the offices of school director and road 
supervisor, and in 1898 was elected trustee 
of Jefferson township. Having fulfilled the 
duties of this important position with great 
credit and to the public satisfaction, he has 
been twice re-elected. 

Mr. and Mrs. Skyles are active members 
of the Methodist Protestant church, and 
bear a valued part in the social life of the 
community. They have two children. Vida 
and Verna. The subject of this review is 
one of the leading younger men of his town- 
ship, and has many friends throughout Lee 
county who recognize his ability and pre- 
dict for him a future of usefulness and 
honor. 



REV. CHARLES HANCOCK, M. D. 

Rev. Charles ?Iancock, M. D., a widely 
known and respected citi.-^en of Lee county, 
Iowa, and at the present time a resident 
of the village of Denmark, was born in 
Worcester county, Massachusetts, April 11, 
1833, the son of Levi and Fanny (Thomp- 



son) Hancock, both natives of the Bay 
state, where they passed their lives and 
whence they passed to that better life be- 
yond. He received his academic education 
in the state of his birth, and later took up 
the study of medicine at the University of 
Michigan, Ann Arbor, from which institu-* 
tion he was graduated with the degree of 
Doctor of Medicine, in March, 1858, but did 
not, however, engage in practice at that 
time, having decided to devote at least part 
of his life to the Christian ministry, for 
which he possessed many natural qualifica- 
tions, and in which, as the e\'ent proved, he 
was destined to accomplish a highly useful 
work. With that object in view he next 
entered the Chicago Theological Seminary, 
where he pursued a three years' course of 
study, and was graduated in 1861 with a 
magnificent equipment for the ta.sk which 
he had mapped out for his future endeavors. 
During the seven years immediately suc- 
ceeding he was engaged in the work of 
ministry in the State of Illinois, with the ex- 
ception of an interim of one and a half years 
which he spent among the L^nion soldiers in 
various parts of the South as a member of 
the Christian commission. 

It was in the year 1868 that Rev. Han- 
cock remo\-ed to Iowa, and in this state he 
continued in his ministerial labors until 
1 88 1, which date marks the beginning of his 
residence in Denmark, Lee county. He 
then took a course in Keokuk Medical Col- 
lege in order to recall the results of his 
earlier researches in the same field, and in 
a short time built up a large and profitable 
practice in Denmark and vicinity, remain- 
ing an active member of the profession until 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



415 



1903. wiien he axailcd liiniself of tlie pre- 
rogati\e of long and conscientious service 
and retired. 

In the spring of 1867 Rev. Hancock was 
united in bonds of holy matrimony with 
Mrs. Mary E. (Green) Bonney. who was 
born in Boston, Massachusetts, where she 
became the adopted daughter of Isaac 
Field and wife, and with them came to 
Iowa in 1838, and settled upon the property 
on which she and the Doctor now reside. 
Deacon Field was a prominent business man 
of Boston, but came to the West on ac- 
count of his health, and here purchased a 
great deal of land at an early day, which, 
however, he afterward sold, and als(.) built 
the large and fine brick dwelling-house 
which is now the resitlence of Dr. and Mrs. 
Hancock. He was one of the original mov- 
ers in the founding of Denmark Academy, 
to which he gave generously of money and 
personal services, an active and constant 
worker in the Congregational church, whose 
present place of worship he helped to build, 
and in which he for many years ofificiated as 
a deacon. Both himself and his wife were 
earnest, faithful Christians, and although 
they had no sons or daughters of their own, 
they reared a numlier of orphaned girls, giv- 
ing them the lienefits of education and sound 
religious and domestic training. Mr. Field 
attained to the age of eighty-four years, at 
the end of which he was laid at rest beside 
his wife in Denmark cemetery, and the in- 
fluence for good which they exercised while 
on earth is potent still, while their memories 
are lovingly enshrined in many hearts. 

Mrs. Hancock's first husband was Jones 
Bonney, for whom the Grand Army of the 



Republic Po.st, at Denmark, is named, and 
who was the first soldier from Denmark to 
meet death in the Civil War. After his 
death his widow entered the hospital service 
as a nurse, and went to the front, doing val- 
uable and self-sacrificing work in both Ken- 
tucky and Arkansas ; and the rare character 
of her devotion is shown in the fact that she 
was the only woman to enter that service 
from this section of the county, if not from 
a nuicli greater territory. 

Rev. Hancock has ever given much 
thought and study to afifairs of public in- 
terest, and since attaining his majority has 
lieen a member of the Republican party, 
having cast his first ballot for Abraham 
Lincoln for president of the United States. 
Since coming to Denmark he has borne a 
prominent part in the affairs of the com- 
munity, having for twelve years held the 
office of clerk of Denmark township and 
acted as township health officer for a num- 
ber of years, while in the Congregational 
church, of which both he and Mrs. Han- 
cock are members, he has been a deacon for 
more than eighteen years, and superintend- 
ent of the Sunday school for more than 
twenty years, and is the treasurer of Den- 
mark Academy, a member of its board of 
trustees, and a member of the executive 
committee and of the committee of inspec- 
tion. Thus his activities bear no taint of 
self-seeking, but have all been calculated to 
benefit the community which claims his citi- 
zenshi]) and for the good of humanity at 
large. He may well look back over a life 
given to the arduous labors of two of the 
most noble and altruistic professions known 
among men, and trace with satisfaction the 



4i6 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



record of his life. Successful in all he has 
attempted, having done much for the general 
welfare, widely known, universally re- 
spected, enjoying the friendship of many 
and the affection of those who know him 
best, the ideal conditions of his later years 
are equaled only by the sterling virtues of 
his character. The names of Rev. and Mrs. 
Hancock are precious to many, for theirs 
have been careers beautiful in service and 
sacrifices, rich with lessons for coming gen- 
erations, and many will trace fondly this 
unassuming chronicle of their lives, the 
rubric of their years. 



JAMES X. WILSON. 

V 



For more than se\-enty years the Wilson 
family has been associated with the annals 
of Lee county, Iowa, and during that long 
period its record has been an honorable one. 
Its \-ari(jus memloers have been noted for 
their industry and integrity; and while these 
characteristics have given them standing in 
the business circles of the community, their 
kindly disposition and general good fellow- 
ship have made and retained for them a 
host of friends. Men can not li\'e the 
friendly life without finding friends; and 
those who live neighbors, find neighbors 
everywhere. "We see what we are." The 
Wilsons have been good neighbors, kind 
friends and honorable men for long years, 
and they have delighted in the friends they 
found and the neighbors that abounded. 



While these principles are true of all, they 
seem especially illustrated in the career of 
the Wilson whose name heads this article. 

James X. \\'ilson, son of Thomas and 
Mary Gilkey (Justice) Wilson, was born on 
the farm where he is now living. February 
13, 1847. His education was secured in the 
local schools, and he was reared a farmer. 
In politics he was a Democrat, and at one 
time served as trustee. In religion he is a 
member of the Methodist Episcopal church, 
and has led a consistent ("hristian life. 

Mr. Wilson was married October 7, 
1870. to Miss Hannah Elizabeth, daughter 
of Granville and Adaline (Langford) ' 
Arnold, a union that has proved in every 
wa^• happy and fortunate. It has been 
blessed by the birth of four children : Clay- 
born, Elnuis. Rhoda Elzira, Sabert C. and 
Susan, all of whom are now living. Mrs. 
Wilson died October 8, 1899, and Mr. Wil- 
son was married again, February 24, 1904, 
when Esther Susanna Cogburn became his 
wife. She is a daughter af .\bner and Eliza- 
beth (Byers) Cogburn. and the widow of 
Tames Henr\' ]\Iason, bx- whom she had two 
children : .\lonzo. who died when seven- 
teen months old, and Laura Isabelle. 

Thomas Wilson, the father of James X., 
came to Lee county from Hancock county. 
Illinois, in T833, having previously lived in 
Missouri. Mr. Wilson secured a quarter 
section of land by government entry, and 
proceded to improve it as a farm home. 
Hughey Wilson, the father of Thomas, also 
took up land, and the entire tract of land 
as secured by father and son is now held by 
the two Wilsons, James X. and Thomas 
Valentine, both of whom are hard-working 



LEE COUNTY, 10]]'. I. 



417 



and industrious farmers. Tlimnas Wilson 
was l)oni in Tennessee, l)ut sjjent the most 
of Iiis earlier years in the State of Kentucky, 
where he received his education. When a 
young man he came to Illinois, and then re- 
moved to Missouri, whence he soon re- 
turned to Illinois, and settled in Lee count)-, 
in 1833. as already noted. He had a 
hrother-in-law, Richard Dunn, who served 
in the War of the Revolution. 

The first Mrs. James X. Wilson was 
horn in Clark county, Missouri, December 
20, 1821, and died Octoher 8. 1899. Gran- 
ville Arnold and .\daline Langford were 
married June 13, 1848. She died Septem- 
Ijer 3, 1857. Mr. Arnold was again mar- 
ried to Susan Jane Thompson, March 15, 
t86o. He was born December, 1821, and 
she October 16, 1831. Their children were 
as follows : Hannah Elizabeth, born June 
24, 1849: Georgia, Jaiuiary 1, [851; Ben- 
jamin Langford Arnold, h>l)ruary 7, 1853; 
Calvin Elmer .\niold, Sei)tember 28, 1855; 
Mary Alice, January 16, 1861 ; William 
.\ndre\v, August 22. 1862; Emma Louise, 
August 20, 1864: Sarah Ida, March 3. 
1867, and Granville Lewis, Feliruary 19, 

uS73- 

Mrs. J. X. Wilson was born in Knox 

county, Missouri, June 9, 1864. The father 
was born in Morgan county. Illinoi.s (being 
the first wiiite child born in that count}-, fif- 
teen miles from Jacksonville), May 8, 
18 19. He died December 7, 1889. The 
mother was born August 17, 1826, and died 
April 24, 1867. To this cou])le were born 
«;ix children : Sarah Jane, Margaret .\rsen- 
eth, Harold Byers, Armina Drusella, Esther 
Susanna and John Nathan, Mrs, Wilson 



was lirst married and became the mother of 
two children; Laura Isabelle, who is now 
Mrs. Amber Smith, was born July 12, 
1886, and Alonzo Abner, born November 
17, 1888, died April 30, 1889, 

Hugh Wilson, grauflfather of this sub- 
ject, was a native of Kentucky, and mar- 
ried Susanna Skyles Schuyler, .and their 
children are as follows: Salley, born No- 
vember 7, 1801; Elizabeth, born April 11, 
1804; John, born November 2, 1806; 
George, born July 22, 1809; William, l)orn 
August 17, 181 1 : Thomas, born April 15, 
18 14: James, born September 4, 181 6, and 
Polly, born about 181 8, 



WILLIAM A. ROSS. 



That America, and especially that por- 
tion of it known as the West, is synonymous 
with opporttmity, finds once more an illus- 
tration in the career of William A. Ross, 
who is at the present time occupying the 
position of county recorder of Lee county, 
Iowa, with offices at Fort Madison. Coming 
to the L^nited States from a foreign land, 
without financial resources and deprived 
from the first of all possibility of aid or en- 
couragement from faniily or kindred, he 
has by care, industry, energy and strict in- 
tegrity and ujirightness in all relations of 
life achic\cd fi^r himself an honorable place 
in the community of which lie is a valuable 
and \-,-dued niember. Mr. Ross was bom 
in County .\ntrim. Ireland, his natal day 



4i8 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



being October 4, 1843, 'i"d is the son of 
John and Ehzabeth Ross, who, with their 
son and one daughter, sailed from Belfast. 
Ireland, March 2, 1853, and after a voyage 
of eight weeks landed at New Orleans, May 
2. In the latter city all the members of the 
family were overtaken by that dread scourge 
of tropical and semi-tropical climates known 
as yellow fever, and in the autumn of that 
year Mr. Ross found himself bereaved of 
father, mother and sister, he himself being 
the only .survivor of that fatal visitation. 

Reduced by this terrible calamity to the 
necessity of self-support at the age of only 
ten years, the native strength and resolute 
quality of his character were his only cap- 
ital. Accepting, however, the lessons of ad- 
versity, he struck out boldly for more dis- 
tant regions, determined to make misfortune 
the means of a more perfect development of 
his natural powers. Recovering from his 
illness he came up the Mississippi river to 
St. Louis, and later to Keokuk, where he ap- 
prenticed himself to a farmer, that being the 
occupation pursued by his father. The gen- 
tleman with whom he formed this connec- 
tion was Mr. N. McCullough, of Franklin, 
Lee county, with whom he contihued for a 
period of ten years and thirty-three days, at 
tlie end of which time he again sought new 
fields of labor, locating thirty-six miles west 
of the City of Des Moines, where he took 
employment as a farm hand and continued 
to devote his energies to farm work until 
the outbreak of the Spanish-American War 
in 1898. At the beginning of that now his- 
torical conflict Mr. Ross, barkening to the 
call of duty and patriotism, volunteered as 
a nurse for the army service, and being im- 



mune to the attacks of yellow fever, the di- 
sease from which the American forces suf- 
fered most, was able to perform much 
needed and highly valuable service, visiting 
for the purpose the islands of Cuba and Key 
West. He is a member of the Red Cross 
Society, the only member of that honored 
and world-famed organization in Lee 
county. 

In 1899 Mr. Ross returned from the 
sanguinary scenes of war and once more 
resumed his residence in Franklin township. 
It was in the following year that he became 
assistant postmaster at LaCrew. and in 
1902 he received the appointment as post- 
master, a position for which he proved him- 
self eminently fitted, discharging its many 
duties to his own great credit and the thor- 
ough satisfaction of the public. Mr. Ross 
also added to his other activities the func- 
tions of a notar}- pul)lic. He owns the busi- 
ness block at LaCrew in which the post- 
office is located, and is otherwise identified 
in a substantial manner with the material in- 
terests of that community. Possessing a 
]i\ely interest in all matters of vital impor- 
tance to the public, he is well informed as to 
current topics and modern tendencies, and 
appreciates the value of ethical ideals in all 
relations of life, knowing that the moral in- 
terests of humanitv are in no degree less im- 
portant than the material and visible. He is 
a member of the Presbyterian church, in 
which he has long been a faithful and as- 
siduous worker, and has held the office of 
trustee. 

In 1863 Mr. Ross was united in mar- 
riage to Miss Carrie .\. McMillan, and to 
them have been born six sons and one 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



419 



daugliter, as follows : Albert Lee, George 
F., Edwin C, Jesse A., Mary M., William 
G., and LeRoy. Politically Mr. Ross gives 
his allegiance to the Republican party, is an 
active and efficient worker in its ranks, and 
as a result of the high honor and esteem in 
\\ hich he is held by his party, he was elected 
in 1904 to the office of county recorder of 
Lee county, a position for which he is fitted 
by the facts of his character and experience. 
Having carried the greater luunber of his 
enterprises to their desired terminations, en- 
joying the general respect and the friend- 
ship of many of Lee county's best people, 
and having, above all, developed his natural 
powers along lines best fitted to benefit both 
himself and others with whom he comes in 
contact, his may be called a successful life 
in all the best senses of the word. A self- 
made man, the architect of his own fortunes, 
he is a typical example of a strong person- 
ality developed in the free sunshine of Amer- 
ican institutions. 



THOMAS S. PAGETT. 

An ideal type of success is exemplified in 
the career of Thomas S. Pagett, who is now 
retired from active pursuits, but was form- 
erly a prominent representative of Keokuk's 
business and commercial life, and by his 
energy and aggresive, enterprising s])irit, 
contributed much to the upbuilding of the 
community in which he resides. Mr. Pagett 
was born December 25, 1823, in Warren 



county, Ohio, and is the only living repre- 
sentative of his family. Born and reared 
on a farm in an undeveloped country, he re- 
ceived only the limited educational advan- 
tages afiforded by the rural schools of that 
day, but he possessed a self-reliant disposi- 
tion, and at the age of twenty-one years we 
find him leaving the parental roof and se- 
curing employment in the Cit}' of Cincin- 
nati, making his own way in the world un- 
assisted. Here he worked at ihe trade of 
coopering, having mastered that vocation in 
his boyhood. 

On P'ebruary 6, 1844, Mr. Pagett wed- 
ded Miss Elizabeth Cox, who was born in 
Warren county, Ohio, September 2, 1826, 
and in 1849 ^'^^y removed to Mount Holly, 
Ohio. Li Alount Holly Mr. Pagett success- 
fully conducted a cooperage business until 
1855, when he came A\est and located at 
Keokuk, making the latter part of the trip 
on the river by way of St. Louis. Here he 
was employed for the first year by Connoble 
& Smith, wholesale grocers, after which for 
a period of two or three years he conducted 
a cooperage shop for Albers & Austin, and 
then, in partnership with George Holt, he 
established the New York Grocery Store. 
.After two years he sold his interest to Mr. 
Flolt, and began a cooperage business on 
what was then justly considered a large 
scale, employing six workmen continuously. 
The work was all done by hand, and the 
material was secured from the neighboring 
forests. Mr. Pagetl's shop was an institu- 
tion of importance among the early indus- 
tries of Keokuk, he supplying barrels to the 
l)ork-packing houses of the city, and he con- 
tinued its operation for over twenty-one 



420 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



years. The shop is still standing, a monu- 
ment to the success of its founder. In 
1874 Mr. Pagett "went into the pork business 
on Main street for one season, and during 
this time handled one thousand head of 
hogs. He shortly went into partnership with 
Mr. Keiser, they buying and curing hams 
and shoulders. They continued in business 
together for four years, at the end of which 
time they suffered the loss of their stock by 
fire — a loss amounting to about $12,000. 
Later Mr. Pagett purchased stock in a can- 
ning factor}^ and for a number of years 
acted as overseer in the department of peel- 
ing and packing. Some five of six years 
ago he sold his interest in the company, and 
since that time has been living in retirement, 
enjoying the well-earned fruits of a life of 
honorable and useful activity combined with 
sound liusiness judgment and foresight. 

To Mr. and Mrs. Pagett has been born 
only one child, who died in infancy, at 
Mount Holly, Ohio. To three nephews, 
liowever, they have given a home, rearing 
and educating them as their own children. 
These are William, of Tacoma. \\^ashing- 
ton ; Harry, who is employed in Keokuk 
with the commercial agency of Dunn & 
Company, and Wilfred, who is at the pres- 
ent time in the .South. 

As a result of a fall last winter Mr. 
Pagett sustained a painful injury, the bone 
of the leg being l)roken ; and in consequence 
he has since that time been confined rather 
closely to his house. He is a member of the 
Westminster Presbyterian church, and in 
his political affiliation he holds with the Re- 
publican party, believing the principles ad- 
vocated b_\- that organization eminently 



suited to the maintenance of the general wel- 
fare. His long and honorable career in Keo- 
kuk has won for Mr. Pagett many admirers, 
and his personal qualities of tact, geniality 
and strict uprightness and integrity in all 
his transactions have brought him a host of 
friends. He still takes a lively interest in 
the well-being of his adopted city, and in 
return no one is held in more fitting honor 
by its citizens than he. 



ELI R. OILAR. 

Eli R. Oilar, who is now living in re- 
tirement on his farm on section 28, Jackson 
township, is well known in Keokuk and 
vicinity, and has many friends throughout 
Lee county, whose esteem he has won by his 
record as a citizen and a man, for he is one 
of those who, in the dark hour before the 
dawn of perfect civil liberty on the Amer- 
ican continent, risked their lives and their 
all on the field of battle in the cause of lib- 
erty and national union. He is a native son 
(if Iowa, and was born in Muscatine county, 
April 24, 1842, the son of .Vndrew and Char- 
lotte (\\'arnick'l Oilar, and his father, who 
was a farmer, was a native of Incliana, where 
he was born in 1796. He served through 
the War of 181 2, came to Lee county in 
1844, and purchased land in Jackson town- 
ship, where his death occurred in 1854. 
Thus he was one of the earlier pioneers of 
Lee county and the West, one of that rugged 
and forceful class of men who developed the 



LEE COUNTY. IOWA. 



421 



land ami sowed tlie seeds of our present civ- 
ilization. His wife, who was a native of 
Greenbriar connty. Virginia, died in 1882, 
at the home of her son, our subject, at the 
age of eighty-two years. She was the 
mother of nine children, of whom four still 
sur\ive. as follows: Andrew, Frances. 
Batheba and Eli R.. the subject of this 
sketch. 

Mr. Oilar obtained his education in a 
public schools conducted in a log school 
building, a structure typical of the times. 
and in subscription schools which were held 
at the homes of the various pioneers of the 
neighborhood, and in this manner he ac- 
quired a knowledge of "the three R's," and 
at the same time, however, a taste for read- 
ing, which enabled him in after life to en- 
large upon his early training. As a boy and 
young man he also applied himself diligently 
to the work of the farm, a task which, under 
pioneer conditions, was potent in develop- 
ing the manly qualities of enterprise, per- 
severance and self-reliance in a high degree. 

At length, Ivovvever, his countn,''s call 
summoned him from peaceful pursuits, and 
in 1862 he enlisted in the First Iowa Cav- 
alry p.egiment under Captain McQueen and 
Colonel Thompson, in which regiment he 
re-enlisted in 1864 and served until I'eb- 
ruary, uSAG, Ijeing mustered out of the serv- 
ice at Austin, Te.xas, and receiving honor- 
able discharge at Davenport, Iowa, after a 
long and perilous military career. With 
the exception nf the battle of Prairie drove, 
Missouri, which was a severely contested 
engagement, his duties were largely those of 
a scout, and in this capacity he met with 
many hard.ships and dangers in the states 



of Missouri, .\rkansas, Mississippi, Ten- 
nessee, Louisiana and Texas. As an instance 
of the deprivations of a soldier's life, it is 
mentioned that while in camp near Camden 
a scarcity of provisions was met by issuing 
to each soldier a single ear of Indian com. 
from which be was under the necessity of 
making both sup])er and breakfast. This 
they ground, mixed with water and baked 
into what is known as "Johnny cakes," and 
in default of something better were fain to 
relish it heartily. During the cciurse of the 
war he lost four mounts in battle, three 
horses being shot under him in one day at 
Brazos river, while he himself escaped 
unhurt. But while ne\er sustaining a 
wound he was seized with an attack of 
smallpox during the summer of 1864, and in 
consequence was for a long time immured 
within the cheerless walls of a military hos- 
pital at Mem|)bis. Tennessee, an experience 
which was in all probability more trying 
than all the pri\ations and dangers of the 
camp and battlefield combined. 

At the close of the war Mr. Oilar re- 
turned to the work of his mother's farm, 
and in the following year, 1867. he was 
united in marriage to Miss Sarah O'Blen- 
ness, who was born in Ohio, January 2, 
1850. To Mr. and Mrs. Oilar have been 
liorn one son and five daughters, as follows: 
Marietta, the wife of Albert Lingle, con- 
nected with the work of the Wabash Rail- 
road Company, at Kansas City, Alissouri ; 
Lucretia, wife of Thomas Lee, a farmer, has 
three children, Goldie, Vera and Wilma ; 
Fred, married Miss Tillie Raber, of Keo- 
kuk, and .\bba, married I'rank Bugh, who is 
employed in the works of the Illinois Central 



422 



BIOGRAPHICAL REJ'IEIV 



Railroad Company, in East St. Louis, Il- 
linois; Irene, wife of Walter Adams, a 
farmer, of Jackson township, Lee county, 
Iowa, and Gertrude, who lives at home. 

In 1868, the year following his marriage. 
Mr. Oilar purchased a farm of forty-four 
acres in the Hogthief creek bottoms, part 
of a tract formerly known as Gardendale. 
and designed to form a suburb of the City 
of Keokuk, and here he has resided con- 
tinuously since. For a number of years he 
was engaged in the dairy business, nnming 
two wagons, which supplied milk to custom- 
ers in Keokuk, and he has, of course, given 
some attention to farming, but in recent 
years has been del)arred from active business 
by physical disabilities originally incurred in 
war, and now sub-lets his land to neighbor- 
ing farmers. From a grateful country he 
receives a pension of twenty -five dollars a 
month, and taking this in connection with 
his other sources of income, he finds him- 
self comfortably well-to-do, and looks back 
over the years of his life well spent with 
the equanimity which comes of duty done 
and the good will of friends who approve 
his course. Politically Mr. Oilar afifiliates 
with the Republican party as most nearly 
representative of his ideas of governmental 
science, and in his fraternal relations he is 
an iKinored member of Belknap Post, of the 
Grand Army of the Republic, and of the 
American Benevolent Association. He has 
never cared for personal distinction in any 
form, and in consequence does not seek 
public ofifice, but realizing the responsibilities 
which attach to citizenship, he has for a 
number of terms accepted the position of 
director of the puljlic schools, which he now 



holds, and in this capacity his services have 
been eminently satisfactory to all concerned. 
Indeed, the record of his life is one of un- 
interrupted success, and this, together with 
the respect which belongs to a strong and 
upright character, entitle him to a place of 
hontir among this roll of Lee county's dis- 
tinguished sons. 



HENRY RINGS. 



One of the more prominent younger 
farmers of Lee county who have won recog- 
nition by the exercise of energy, business 
acumen and force of character is Henry 
Rings, trustee of Franklin township. Mr. 
Rings is a native son of his township, having 
been born here April 17, 1761, the son of 
Daniel Rings. He received a common- 
school education in both the German and 
English languages, and has since done much 
to broaden his knowledge by a study of sub- 
jects of public and general interest as well 
as by contact with the world of actual af- 
fairs. His boyhood, youth and early man- 
liood were jiassed in the usual manner of 
those who are trained in the life of the farm, 
assisting in his father's work and acquiring 
the lessons of experience without which the 
knowledge of books is of little value. 

In 1882 Mr. Rings was united in mar- 
riage to Miss Anna Handrich, a native of 
Franklin township, Lee county, and daugh- 
ter of Jacob Handrich, a sketch of whose life 
appears on another page of this volume. 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



425 



Immediately after Iiis marriage he estab- 
lished himself upon the farm wliich lie now 
occupies, renting and farming it success- 
fully for seven years. He then purchased 
a farm of sixty acres on section 16, this 
township. At the end of three years, how- 
ever, he sold that farm and returned to his 
present location, purchasing the farm, 
which consists of 197K' acres of fine land. 
Here he has made many improvements, and 
conducts a general farming business, and 
by close study of the markets and careful at- 
tention to detail in the management of his 
operations has been successful to a very 
gratifying degree. 

Mr. and Mrs. Rings are the parents of 
eight children, the eldest of whom, .\lma, is 
the wife of Herbert W'ilhelm, and resides 
upon a farm in the western part of Franklin 
township. .\11 the others remain at h(imc, 
and are as follows: Rosa, .\rthur, Herbert, 
Harry, Seymour, Clyde and Ermine. One 
child died in infancy. The family are mem- 
bers of the Mennonite church. In his political 
allegiance Mr. Rings has always been an 
admirer and supporter of Democratic prin- 
ciples, and has lieen active in promoting 
the supremacy of that party. He is inter- 
ested in public affairs, and has often been 
honored by election to office at the hands 
of bis neighbors, friends and acc|uaintrinces. 
l'"or a numl)er of terms he served as director 
of the public .schools, and in the autumn of 
1903 he was elected for a term of three 
years to the highest office within the gift of 
the township, that of trustee. This posi- 
tion, which is one re(|uiring business quali- 
fications'of a high order, he has so far filled 
to his own credit and the satisfaction of his 



constituents, antl doubtless the bestowal of 
further honors will rewanl his al)le and con- 
scientious service. He is a young man of 
progressive tendencies, and enjoys a reputa- 
tion for integrity and the strictest upright- 
ness in all his dealings, while his genial good 
nature has made him popular. He has many 
friends. 



FRANKLIN R. SEITZ. 

Franklin R. Seitz, now deceased, was 
one of the honored pioneer settlers of Frank- 
lin county, arriving here at an early day, 
when the district was largely unimproved. 
In fact it was considered a far western re- 
gion, and the greater part of the land was 
still in its primiti\e condition. The forests 
stood in their primeval strength, many of 
the streams were unbridged, and the land 
was uncultivated. Mr. Seitz joined the 
earlv settlers in laying the foundation of 
the ]M-esent prosperity and progress of the 
country, and well does his name deserve to 
be inscribed vipon the pages of the history 
of this portion of Iowa. 

He was born March 2, 183 1, in Lan- 
caster county. Pennsylvania, and there spent 
the days of his childhood antl youth. There 
also, being of an energetic and ambitious 
turn of mintl. he set himself to learn a trade, 
that of ship carpentering, in which be at- 
tained a high degree of ])roficiency. After 
coming to Keokuk he continued his work as 
a carpenter, in which he was \Q\y successful, 
and thus very materially contributed to the 



424 



BIOGRAPHICAL REl'IEW 



advancement and upbuilding of the com- 
munity in which he hved. 

In Jackson township, Lee count j', No- 
vember 13, 1855, Mr. Seitz was united in 
marriage with Miss Anna M. Pore, the 
ceremony lieing performed by Rev. W. Y. 
Cowles. Mrs. Seitz was born June 14, 
1836, the daughter of John and Juha (Gur- 
gas) Pore, both of whom are now deceased. 
Her father was a farmer and was of Ger- 
man e.Ktraction. Unto ^Ir. and Mrs. Seitz 
were born tliree children, as follows : John 
Gorgas, born July 29, 1856, follows his 
father's trade of carpentering; Ada Jane. 
bom August 31, 1859, died September 11, 
1883, aged twenty-four years and eleven 
days; Franklin R., born ^larch 13, 1868, is 
a carpenter, residing at Davenport, Iowa. 
He married Margaret Davis, and they have 
two children, Harry and Mamie. 

Mr. Seitz was a public-spirited man. and 
had a high sense of duty and patriotism. .\t 
the beginning of the Civil War he com- 
mended his family and material interests to 
the care of Providence, and went to join 
the L'nion armv in its heroic straggle for 
the saving of the nation. He enlisted in 
Company A, of the Second Iowa Volunteer 
Infantry, under Capt. William Wilson, and 
for three years served his countrv- as a 
soldier, undergoing all the hardships and 
privations of camp and field life, and par- 
ticipating in important battles. It was dur- 
ing his term of military service that he con- 
tracted the dread disease known as chronic 
diarrhcea, which made him an invalid for 
the remainder of his life and resulted in his 
death four vears after the close of the war. 



The date of his demise was June 30, 1869, 
he ijeing then thirty-eight years, three 
months and twenty-eight days of age. He 
passed away in the very prime of life, and 
his loss was keenly felt by all who knew him. 
He was a member of the Baptist church, as 
is also his widow, and in matters of politics 
he acted with the Republican party. 

The death of Mr. Seitz occurred in Jack- 
son township on a farm which he purchased 
at the close of the war. By his death the 
care and responsibility of rearing and edu- 
cating the family of three children fell to 
the widow. The farm was operated under 
her supervision, and she continued to reside 
there until about 1890, when the family hav- 
ing attained to years of maturity, she re- 
moved to Keokuk. Here she owns a pleas- 
ant home, at 1407 Fulton street, as well as 
residence property on Blondeau street. 
Through the efforts of friends she has se- 
cured from the government a pension of 
twelve dollars a month, with an initial pay- 
ment of ,$900. Two brothers of Mrs. Seitz 
were also soldiers of the Civil War, these 
being Samuel and William Pore, both mem- 
bers of the First Iowa Cavalry. Samuel is 
a resident of Rothville, Missouri, and Wil- 
liam, of Denver. Colorado. 

Mr. Seitz, the subject of this sketch, was 
a man of the purest and most admirable pri- 
\ate character, honest, honorable and gen- 
erous always, and in Itis public relations the 
fact that he sacrificed himself for his country 
in her hmir of distress speaks more loudly 
than an}- words could do. "fur greater love 
hath no man than this, that he lay down 
his life for his friends." 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



425 



WILLIAM C. POTTS. 

One who has achieved success entirely 
by his own efforts and reared for liimsclf a 
noble edifice of reputation is the subject of 
tliis review. Mr. Potts was born in Mon- 
nioutli county. New Jersey, near the scene 
of the famous Imttle of Monmouth. June 21, 
1835. and is the son of Ricliard and .\nn 
(Borden) Potts, both of whom were born 
in Xew Jersey. The grandfather was 
Thomas Potts, also of Xew Jersey. Richard 
Potts was a tanner and farmer. He died 
on a farm in New Jersey in 1853, and the 
mother at the same place in 1863. 

William C. Potts received his education 
in the common schools of his native place, 
and there began life as a farmer, at which 
occupation he continued until 1858. At 
that time he decided to seek larger oppor- 
tunities in the new cnuntrv which was then 
known as "the West," and went to Peoria 
county, Illinois, where he rented land and 
continued farming for ten years. Again 
removing to new fields uf labor in 1868, he 
came to Fort Madison, where he took a posi- 
tion with the Potowonok Milling Company. 
By this firm he was employed for fifteen 
years at various places as bookkeeper, ship- 
ping clerk and weighmastcr, and on termi- 
nating the connection he engaged indei)end- 
ently in the insurance business for three 
years. In 1895 he became bookkeeper and 
collector for the Fort Madison Water Com- 
pany. 

In 1863 took place the marriage of Mr. 
Potts to Miss Fanny Tebow, at Princeville, 
Illinois. She died in 1865, leaving one 
child, Anna, who was born December 23, 



1865, and is now the wife of W^ A. Cald- 
well, of Wood River, Nebraska. Mr. Potts 
has since remarried. At Fort Madison, in 
1867, he was united in bonds of matrimony 
with Miss Fanny Toors, who was born in 
Lee county, September 17, 1846, and died 
.\])ril 29, 1896. Four children survive her. 
as follows : Caroline F.. born .\pril 6, 
1873. is a trained nurse, and is located at 
Ouincy, Illinois: Emma G., born February 
14, 1876, is a clerk at the office of J. P. 
Cruikshank: Richard, born Jaiuiary 28, 
1879, holds a position with the painting 
force of the Santa Fe Railway system, and 
Isla Pearl, born November 20, 1884, is still 
at home. Mrs. .J^-rances (Hardin) Toors, 
mother of the deceased Mrs. Potts, makes 
her home with Mr. Potts, spending the win- 
ters with her son, Taylor Toors, of Little 
Rock, Arkansas. She was born at Brighton, 
England, in 1820. and came to Lee county 
in 1841 with her husband, John W. Toors. 
He was born on Long Island, was reared 
in Cincinnati, and died during the progress 
of the Civil W^ar. He was of Dutch an- 
cestry. They were the parents of two sons 
and one daughter besides Mrs. Potts. These 
are: R. L. Toors. died in May. 1904. in 
Mexico; Taylor Toors, of Little Rock, Ar- 
kansas, ;uid Miss Mary Toors, for the past 
thirty-five years teacher in the public schools 
of Lee county. 

Religiously ATr. Potts is a member of 
the Presbyterian church, of which he has 
served as trustee, and in :i fraternal way he 
is in similar relations with the Order of the 
Knights of Pythias. In politics he early be- 
came convinced of the superiority of the 
•principles advocated by the Republican 



426 



BIOGRAPHICAL REIAEIV 



party, and his first vote was cast for John C. 
Fremont, first RepubUcan candidate for the 
office of President of the United States. 
Since that time he has voted for every Re- 
pubHcan presidential candidate. He has 
never sought public office, but has allowed 
his friends to use his name as candidate for 
alderman and for assessor. The Republican 
party being in the minority, however, no 
chance of election was possible. 

Mr. Potts has a couimodious home at 
915 Fifth street. The welfare of his family 
has ever been his first care, and all his chil- 
dren have received excellent educations in 
the Fort IMadison high school. His ability 
and social qualities have made him many 
friends, and his reputation is of the kind that 
might be envied by the most highly honored. 



MORRICE E. WAITE. 

One of the oldest locomotive engineers 
■of the Santa Fe system is Morrice E. Waite, 
who resides at No. 2522 Webster street, 
Fort Madison, Iowa. Mr. Waite is a native 
■of Spencer, W^ircester county, Massachu- 
setts, where he was born May 15, 1847, and 
received his early education in the public 
schools. He assisted in the work of the 
home farm until twenty years of age, when 
he decided to begin his independent career 
and win his way in the world by his own 
efforts. Learning of the rewards awaiting 
industi-}- and ability in the great West, he 
•came as far as Aurora, Illinois, in 1868, and- 



began work as a fireman for the Chicago. 
Burlington & Quincy Railroad. After three 
years and four months' faithful and efficient 
serA-ice he was promoted, in October, 187 1, 
to the position of engineer, and continued 
\\ith the company in that capacity until Janu- 
ary 7, 1887. He then entered the employ 
of the Santa Fe Railroad Company, with 
headquarters at Fort Madison, and in this 
city he has since resided, having erected a 
ye\y pleasant dwelling about five years after 
his removal here. He is in the passenger 
branch of the company's service, and his 
route is between Fort Madison and Kansas 
City. 

Mr. Waite, in his fraternal relations, is 
a meml)er of the Masonic order, his local 
connection being with Stella Lodge. No. 
440, of Fort Madison, and also of the 
Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, 
Division 391. of Fort Madison. In matters 
of politics he is a believer in the principles 
of the Republican party and a loyal sup- 
porter of its standard bearers, especially 
when important issues are at stake. He is 
a member of the Christian Science church, 
and actively connected with its work, the 
meetings of the society being held at his 
home. 

Morris E. Waite is the son of Josiah and 
Emmeline (Farnam) Waite. His father, 
who was a currier by trade, was born at 
Millsbury, Massachusetts, where he lived 
for many years. He was also engaged in 
the pursuit of his calling for a number of 
years at Northbridge. He came to Fort 
]\Iadison in 1890, and here his death oc- 
curred in 1892 at the home of his son in the 
seventy-third year of his age. He was a 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



427 



man of business ability, and achieved con- 
sideralile material success. Mr. Waite's 
mother thed in Florida in 1881, at the age of 
fifty-three years. She was a native of New 
York state. Mr. Waite is the second of a 
family of five brothers, the others being 
Charles, who lost his life in the Battle of the 
Wilderness ; Jonas, of Charlton, Massachu- 
setts, who was for many years station agent 
for the Boston & Albany Railway Company, 
but is now retired from active pursuits; 
Jerr>' \V., who is engaged in orange culture 
at Lemon Grove, California, and Fred D., 
who resides at Palmetto, Florida, and is su- 
perintendent of an orange grove at that 
place. All were born in Massachusetts. 

On April 24, 1871, Mr. Waite was mar- 
ried to Miss Sarah J. \^'illis, and to them 
have been born five children, only one of 
whom, Carrie, is living. .She was born at 
Galesburg, Illinois, and was educated at 
Fort Madison. The deceased were : Charles, 
bom at ^lendota, died at the age of six 
years ; Kittie, born at Aurora, died in in- 
fancy; Freddie, born at Galesburg. Illinois, 
died at three years of age, and Ella, also born 
at Galesburg, died at the age of five. Mrs. 
Waite is a faithful member of the Christian 
Science church and a woman of deep re- 
ligious nature. She was born in Racine 
county, Wisconsin, the daughter of Joseph 
W. Willis. Mr. Willis was born in Cayuga 
county, New York, December 15, 1825, and 
at the age of two years removed with his 
parents to Yates county, New York, where 
he lived until 1846. He then came west, 
locating at the town of Raymond, Racine 
county, Wisconsin, where he engaged in 
farming. In 1862 he enlisted in Company 
H of the Twenty-second Wisconsin Volun- 



teer Infantry, and served his country 
throughout the remainder of the war, being 
discharged June 28, 1865, at Milwaukee, 
Wisconsin. He was assigned to detached 
service for the greater part of the time, 
but accompanied General Sherman on his 
famous march to the sea. On March 25, 
1863, he was taken prisoner by the enemy 
at Brantvvood, Tennessee, eight miles from 
Nash\-ille. and conveyed to Libby prison, but 
was released through an exchange of prison- 
ers which took place the following day. 
During die time of his military service Mr. 
Willis's eyesight began to fail, and has since 
deteriorated steadily until he now suffers 
from total blindness. After the close of the 
war he engaged in the ice business at 
.\urora, Illinois, continuing in that occupa- 
tion for twenty-four years. On sustaining 
the loss of his sight he retired from active 
participation in affairs, and since 1900 has 
resided with his son-in-law, Mr. Waite. 
He is a member of Grand Army Post No. 
20, fit Aurora, Illinois, and his religious af- 
filiation is with the Christian Science church. 
He was married to Miss Mary B. Cole, who 
was born in London, England, and came to 
America when fourteen years of age. She 
died July 30, 1861, and is buried at Racine, 
Wisconsin. To them were born seven chil- 
dren, as follows: Sarah J., wife of our sub- 
ject; Martha, who died at four years of age; 
Eveline H., who died in infancy — at the age 
of six months ; William C. ; James H., of 
Mnlinc, Illinois; Mary E., of Missouri, and 
Edward, who died in infancy. Mr. Willis 
was remarried, the second time to Kate 
Fitch, who was born in Delaware county, 
New York. She died May 21, 1900, at 
Aurora, Illinois, and is buried at that place. 



428 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



MATTHIAS QARMO. 

Matthias Garmo, of Garmo & Company, 
of Keokuk, is of distinguished Revolution- 
ary ancestry, his grandfather having been a 
French officer who accompanied General 
La Fayette to .-Vmerica and served under 
him in the War of" American Independence, 
later deciding to become a citizen of the 
country which he had helped to free from 
British domination, and settled in New Jer- 
sey. There his son, the father of our sub- 
ject, was born, and he in his turn took part 
in the second War of American Independ- 
ence, serving as a cavalry-man in the War 
of 1812 and sustaining a sabre wound which 
afterward caused his death. He was a man 
of powerful and muscular frame, and in his 
earlier life followed the trade of a bloomer 
or forgeman, but during the larger fraction 
of his life was a commission merchant at 
Hackensack and at Paterson. New Jersey. 
He was thoroughly American in all of his 
sympathies, and procured an act of the New 
Jersey legislature changing his name, which 
was originally De Garmo. to its present 
form, thereby following the example of the 
descendants of General La Fayette and elim- 
inating the evidence of his aristocratic 
descent. 

Matthias Garmo was born in Sussex 
county. New Jersey, in the year 1836, and 
there recei\-ed his education in the public 
schools. Orphaned, however, by the death 
of his mother when he was but fifteen years 
of age aTxl the death of his father two years 
later, he resolved to begin the active work of 
life, and became an apprentice to J. W. In- 
glis, a carpenter and joiner, of Paterson, 



New Jersey, and later accepted employment 
with the York & Erie Railway Company as 
a millwright at Jersey City, New Jersey. 
In this latter line of effort he was signally 
successful, and was able to command a 
salary of two hundred dollars a month, but 
finding that the position did not offer as 
much opportunity for individual initiative 
and independent enterprise as he desired, 
he resigned, and in 1864 came to tr\' his 
fortune in the West, locating at Burlington, 
Iowa, where for three years he conducted a 
planing mill business in partnership with C. 
S. Quick. At the expiration of that period 
he accepted the position of manager of a 
planing mill and sash, door and furniture 
factory for iVlcGavic Brothers & Davis, of 
Keokuk, in which he continued for five 
years, and then the firm of Garmo & Hume 
was formed and conducted the same line 
of business until the latter part of the year 
1888, after which Mr. Garmo was connected 
with the firm of Henderson Brothers for 
three years. In 1891 he re-established him- 
self in the planing business in pnrtnership 
with B. C. Taber, the firm style being 
Garmo & Company, and this business has 
been continued very successfully ever since, 
the mill operating throughout the entire 
years and furnishing employment to an 
average of fifteen men. To this work Mr. 
Garmo gives his exclusive attention, al- 
though he has other interests, among these 
being his membership in a local company 
owning a lead and zinc mine with very 
promising prospects in the wonderful metal 
producing region of Jasper county, Mis- 
souri. 

At Paterson, New Jersey, in 1862, Mr. 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



429 



(larnio was united in marriage to Miss 
Mary J. Smith, a native of tliat state and 
of old Holland ancestry, the daughter of a 
family of farmers. To Mr. and Mrs. Garmo 
have been born two daughters, of whom 
one, Fannie, survixes, and is the wife of W. 
H. Palmer, of Keokuk, they, having one 
child, (ireta, twelve years of age. The other 
daughter, Lillian, was the wife of John 
Dollerv, and they are both now tleceased, 
leaving one son, Clyde, who has been reared 
as a member of Mr. Garmo's family, and is 
now in his seventeenth year. The family 
home is a commodious residence at No. 418 
South Eighth street, erected by Mr. Garmo 
in 1878. 

Our subject has always been in sym- 
pathy with any movement designed to ad- 
vance the moral and ethical interests of so- 
ciety, and never fails to encourage such as 
are worthy by all means in his power. He 
was formerly a member of the IMethodist 
Episcopal church, and although he has since 
allowed his connection to lapse, he still con- 
tributes to its support, as he does als(5 for the 
varifius other denominations. In like manner 
his public spirit has led him to assume an ac- 
tive part in political affairs, and he was one 
of the leading organizers of the gold wing of 
the Democratic party in Keokuk in the 
celebrated presidential campaign of 1896, 
though he is now a supporter of President 
Roosevelt, considering that the true prin- 
ciples of good government are in a large 
measure represented by that distinguished 
president. He is also very prominent in the 
fraternal world of Iowa, being a charter 
member of Keokuk Lodge of the Knights 
of Honor, having held all its official posi- 

26 



tions, and for the last nine years been 
Grand Treasurer of the Grand Lodge of 
Iowa, an office which he now holds and in 
which his able financial administration has 
made him many admirers in this and other 
states. In fact his life has lieen a success 
in almost all its phases without an exception, 
and while his business ability has enabled 
him to win for himself a substantial reward 
for his labors and has brought him a very 
comfortable competency, the useful enter- 
prise which he has established in Keokuk has 
l)cen a factor in the development of the city, 
and for this he is entitled to credit. A self- 
made mrm, working his way upward from 
humble circumstances to his present en- 
viable position, the keynote of his career may 
be summed up in one word* integrity, a trait 
of character which has won him the general 
respect and made his name synonymous 
with sound and irreproachable business 
methods wherever he is known. 



BENJAMIN F. MclNTYRE. 

Benjamin F. Mclntyre, who having 
reached the age of seventy-.seven years, has 
now practically retired from active Inisiness 
life and is enjoying a well-earned and richly 
merited rest, was b(M-n in Adams county, 
Ohio, on the 15th of September, 1827. His 
father, William Mclntyre, was also a native 
of the Buckeye state, but the paternal grand- 
father came from the north of Ireland. The 
mother bore the maiden name of Ellen 



430 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



Montgomery, who was torn in Kentucky, 
while her people were of Scotch hneage, so 
that Mr. Mclntyre is of Scotch-Irish de- 
scent. The father died when the son was but 
five years of age and the mother, remaining 
true to his memory, never married again, 
but passed away in Keokuk in 1835, ^^ the 
age of seventy-five, a short time after com- 
ing from lier Ohio home to this city. Benja- 
min F. !\lclntyre was the youngest in a 
family of nine children and the only one 
now living, although all reached advanced 
years. He had one brother, William New- 
ton Mclntyre, who ser\-ed as a soldier in the 
Civil War as a member 61 an Illinois Regi- 
ment, and died in Hancock county. Illinois, 
in 1899. 

The common school afforded Benjamin 
F. Mclntyre his educational privileges and 
he was reared in Ohio. After putting aside 
his text-books he learned the carpenter's 
trade, and at about the age of twenty-two 
years went to Kentucky, working for se\'en 
years in Maysville, Mason county. He ar- 
rived in Keokuk in 1854, and for many 
years continued an active representative of 
liuilding interests here and to a limited ex- 
tent he yet engages in the use of tools, al- 
though he has in recent }-ears lived prac- 
tically retired. He worked on the govern- 
ment canal at Keokuk and on the govern- 
ment arsenal at Da\'enport. His business 
interests, however, were interrupted by 
military service, for in September, 1862, in 
response to his country's call for aid he 
joined the Union Army at Keokuk as a 
member of Company A, Nineteenth Iowa 
Infantry, under Capt. Jolin Bruce and 
Colonel Crabb. The regiment was with the 



Armv of the Frontier during the first six 
months of his services, and was afterward 
in the seige of Vicksburg, and at Yazoo 
City was ordered to join the Gulf Depart- 
ment, on the Rio Grande, in Texas, under 
General Herron. and was held in readiness 
for any emergency. With his command 
Mr. Mclntyre participated in the engage- 
ments at Prairie Grove, Arkansas, the seige 
of Vicksburg and the seige and capture of 
Yazoo, Mississippi. For about nine months 
he was encamped in Te.xas. In the latter 
part of the war he participated in the en- 
gagements at Fort Morgan, Alabama, and 
the seige antl capture of Spanish Fort and 
Fort Blakeley. The latter fort was captured 
on the night that President Lincoln was as- 
sassinated, and the news reached the army 
the following morning. The regiment wxnt 
into camp at Mobile, Alabama, and soon 
afterward Mr. ^Iclntyre. having been mus- 
tered out under General .\. J. Smith, re- 
turned to Davenport and was honorably dis- 
charged. He enlisted as first orderly ser- 
geant, and six months later was promoted 
to the rank of second lieutenant, and w-hen 
three months had passed was commissioned 
first lieutenant. While at New Orleans he 
was granted a lea\'e of absence and returned 
home, where he suffered greatly from a 
severe attack of malaria. So ill was he that 
his leave of absence was twice extended, and 
he remained at home for sixt}' days, after 
which he rejoined his command at Browns- 
ville, Texas. In addition to the engage- 
ments mentioned the regiment participated 
in several skirmishes, including one at Pen- 
sacola. Florida. They marched long dis- 
tances through the South and experienced 



LEE COUNTY, WW. I. 



431 



the usual liardships tliat fall to the lot of 
a soldier, hut Mr. Mclnlyre was ever true 
and loyal to his duty and never faltered in 
performance of any task assignied him in 
his effort to preserve the Union. 

Returning to the North ]\Ir. Mclntyre 
resumed work at carpentering and made that 
his life occupation, being connected with 
building operations in Keokuk through long 
years, and evidences of his handiwork are 
yet seen in many of the substantial structures 
of the city. He is a member of the Grand 
Anny of the Republic, and for fifty years 
has been a representative of the Independent 
Order of Odd Fellows. He has held all of 
the positions in the subordinate lodge ; has 
attended the Grand Lodge on several oc- 
casions, and on the 23d of Februar}', 1903, 
he received the gold jewel from Keokuk 
Lodge. Xo. 13, in honor of his completed 
half century of memlier.ship and active work. 
Only eight such jewels are found in the 
State of Lowa. The No. 50 upon the medal 
is set with twenty diamonds. He was re- 
presentative to the Grand Lodge at Clinton, 
and also attended the (irand Lodges at 
Davenport, Keokuk and Rock Island. He 
has likewise been a member of the Knights 
of Pythias fraternity', and his life accords 
with the beneficient spirit of these various 
fraternal organizations. He voted for the 
first Republican nominee. John C. Fremont, 
and has never faltered in his allegiance to 
the party and its principles, but has through- 
out the years continued to give it stalwart 
support. 

On the 30th of September, 1850, Mr. 
Mclntyre was married in Maysville, Ken- 
tucky, to Miss Emeline M. Williams, who 



died March 6, 1890. after a ha[)py married 
life of almost forty years, her remains be- 
ing interred in Oakland cemetery. They 
were the parents of four children, of whom 
three are li\ing: I^Iary. the wife of A. J. 
Jenkins, of Keokuk ; Harry, who died at 
the age of thirty-two years; Emma B.. and 
Katherine, who has charge of the queens- 
ware store owned by Duncan & Schell. Mr. 
Mclntyre resides at Xo. 1013 High street, 
where he has a pleasant and comfortable 
home. In his business career he never had 
special advantages nor was assisted by any 
fortunate combination of circumstances, but 
he has worked earnestly year after year, and 
his unfaltering diligence has been the key- 
note of his success, so that he is now num- 
bered among the substantial citizens of his 
adopted county. At all times his course 
has been such as to command uniform con- 
fidence and esteem, and he has gained that 
warm personal regard which arises from 
true nol)ility of character and kindliness of 
spirit. 



JASPER K. MASON. 



Jasper K. Mason was born in Kirksvillc, 
Missouri. September 10. 1840. and died in 
Keokuk. Iowa. June 17, 1903. He had lived 
for many years in the latter city and had 
gained a large circle of friends here. Hav- 
ing completed his education in the public 
schools, he was apprenticed to the trades of 
cigarmaking and coopering, in Warsaw, Il- 
linois, after which he came to Keokuk, wliere 



432 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



he continued to make his home until liis 
death, with the exception of one year. He 
had remained here but a brief period, how- 
ever, when the Civil War was inaugurated, 
and about a year later on August 14, 
1862, when he was twenty-two years of age, 
he enlisted as a priwate in the Nineteenth 
Iowa Infantry for three years. He was dis- 
charged, however, with the rank of sergeant 
before that time because of disability caused 
by wounds which he had sustained. His 
jaw was terribly injured and one of his 
ribs broken by a spent shell. He was caj)- 
tured at Morganza Bend, but managed to 
make his escape on the night of November 
14, 1863. Later he was captured and cast 
into Libby prison, but he managed to es- 
cape a second time by tunneling under the 
barricades. His experiences were of a most 
thrilling character, and he wrote a book con- 
cerning them, which was published and 
read with much interest by thousands of 
veterans. In the anniversary edition of 
Gate City, in 1902, there was also a long 
and interesting account of his vicissitudes 
and hardships while in the army. He served 
until Jui],e 22, 1865. 

Mr. Mason returned to the North and 
resumed business. He was married in War- 
saw, Illinois, in 1S67, to ]\Iiss Rachel L. 
Markley, who was born in Arkansas, and in 
1865 became a resident of Missouri. She 
spent a short time in Warsaw, and there 
formed the acquaintance of Mr. Mason. A 
year after their marriage they came to Keo- 
kuk, and he was variously connected with 
the business interests of the city through 
the succeeding thirty years. For ten years 
he conducted a grocery store, enjoying a 



flourishing trade, in West Keokuk. He was 
afterward appointed deputy United States 
oil inspector, in which capacity he served 
for fourteen years, when he resigned. After 
retiring from the grocery business he was 
engaged in the real estate and insurance 
business for some time. 

Politically Mr. Mason was a Republican, 
deeply interested in the growth and success 
of his party and recognized as one of its 
leading workers in local ranks. He repre- 
sented the second ward of the city council 
in 1879 and 1880, and as a private citizen 
he contributed to and supported those meas- 
ures which had for their object the perma- 
nent good of the city. He capably served 
for about eight years as a member of the 
soldier's relief commission for the City of 
Keokuk, and he was prominent in his fra- 
ternal relations, being a member of Tor- 
rence Post, Grand Army of the Republic, 
for many years, in which he filled nearly all 
the ofiices and became commander. He be- 
longed to Eagle Lodge, No. 12, Free and 
Accepted Masons, the Commantlry and the 
Mystic Shrine, and also the Eastern Star, 
and although he affiliated with no religious 
denomination he was a warm personal 
friend of Rev. D. R. C. Mcllwin, pastor of 
St. John's Episcopal church, whom he re- 
( [nested to conduct the funeral services when 
he should be called away. He recognized 
and appreciated true worth in others, and so 
Ii\ed as to dc\'eIop a character in keeping 
with high ideals and honorable, manly 
principles. 

Mrs. Mason, who survives her husband, 
was married when sixteen years of age. 
Theirs was a close and congenial compan- 



LEE COUNTY. 10 IV A. 



433 



ioiiship. causing; his loss to be all the more 
deei)ly felt. Mrs. Ma.son joined with him 
the Order of the Eastern Star and served as 
Worthy Matron. She is also a past presi- 
dent of tlie Torrence Woman's Relief Corps 
and has served as Senior \^ice-President of 
the state organization, while for two years 
■-lu' was instituting; and installing officer for 
the state of the Corps, luir two years she 
was delegate from the State of Iowa to the 
National Convention of the Woman's Relief 
Corps, at Philadelphia and at Washington. 
She belongs to the Baptist church, and her 
kindly spirit and ready sympathy ha\e 
prompted her to take active and helpful part 
in church and charitable work. She makes 
her home at Xo. 200 South Eight street, 
KeokuJ<, and in addition to this properts 
she owns realt}' in Colorado Springs, 
Colorado. 



RHODA WILLIAMS. 

Rhoda Williams, widow of John M. 
A\'illiams. has long been a well-kown resi- 
dent of Jackson township, and is a member 
of one of the old and representative families 
of Lee countv. Iler late husband was a na- 
tive of Indiana, ha\ing been born in that 
state in 1832, and on coming to Iowa, pur- 
chased a farm of eighty acres in Lucas 
county, near Chariton, Init located in Wayne 
county, where he engaged very successfully 
in tlie vocation of farming until January 10, 
1H63, when he decided to offer himself for 
the service of his countn' in the Civil War, 



which was then draining the best blood of 
the land, and enlisted in the First Battery of 
the Iowa Ught .\rtillery. .\ssigned to duty 
as a teamster he was never actively engaged 
as a combatant in battle, btit for eighteen 
montiis he i)erformed hard, faithful and 
often dangerous service, proving himself a 
\alual)le and efficient member of his corps 
and winning the esteem of both his c(|uals 
and superiors in military rank. 

On returning from the war .Mr. Wil- 
liams tirst went to Keokuk, where .Mrs. Wil- 
liams was then making her home with her 
father, and shortly afterward he sold his 
lands in Lucas county and purchased a farm 
of forty acres in Jackson township, Lee 
county, on which Mrs. Williams still con- 
tinues to reside, and whence he carried on 
farming operations. during the remainder of 
his life. He possessed much ability, had a 
wide acquaintance, and enjoyed the friend- 
ship of many who respected him for the 
sterling qualities of his character — his 
energy and the strict honor and integrity 
which marked him in every relation of life. 
He v.as a member of the Baptist church, and 
was a true and devout Christian, being faith- 
ful to his religion until his death, which oc- 
curred in 1879. He was buried in Hickory 
drove cemeter\'. A public-spirited citizen, 
a kind husliand and indulgent father, ever 
generous, sympathetic and true, his loss w-as 
in every sense a calamity, and one which no 
favor of fortune can ever repair. 

To Mr. and Mrs. Williams were Iiorn 
t'our daughters and one son, as follows: 
.\lha. now the wife of John Cruse, of Vin- 
cennes, Lee county, and have four children, 
Mabel, Gennetta, Robert and John ; Jame.s. 



434 



BIOGRAPHICAL REl'IEW 



who married Miss Anna Jaquin and resides 
with INfrs. Williams; Anna, who is the wife 
of Wilham Colvin, of Mooar, and has four 
children, Lulu, Georgia, William and Ver- 
non; Lucretia, who is the wife of Thomas 
Taylor, of Mooar, and has two daughters, 
Ruth and Beatrice, and Margaret, wlio is 
the wife of George Colvin, of Keokuk, and 
has three children, Wilfred, Inez and Enid. 
Left by the death of her husband with the 
sole care of fi\e children, the eldest only 
seventeen years of age and the youngest 
five, Mrs. Williams has exhibited much 
strength of character and Christian forti- 
tude, meeting and fulfilling her difificult ob- 
ligations with extraordinar}- ability, and 
proving herself equal to the unexpected and 
trying situations arising from her station in 
life. She is of a highly respected family, 
and was born in Mercer county, Pennsyl- 
vania, in 1838, coming to Lee county with 
her parents in 1852. She is the daughter of 
James and ^lartha McClearv, who were na- 
tives of Ireland and celebrated their mar- 
riage in that country before their emigra- 
tion to the L'nited States, and both are now 
deceased. Mrs. Williams is a member of 
the Christian church, in wliich she is an 
active and very helpful worker, doing much 
to advance the cause of religion in her com- 
munity and setting by her own life an ex- 
ample of humble Christian piety, faith and 
charity, and is also a leading worker in the 
aid society of the church, of which she is 
])resi(lent. She has merited the admiration 
of all, and of her it may be truly said that 
to few or none in this section has come a 
greater measure of esteem. 



PETER S. SCHEFFLER, Sr. 

One of the most highly successful farm- 
ers and business men of Lee county and 
southern Iowa is Peter S. Scheffler, who 
owns 280 acres of high-grade farming land 
and forty acres of timbered land in Frank- 
lin township, where he resides, and in addi- 
tion a section of valuable land in the State 
of Texas. Mr. Scheffler was born January 
2'ii. 1836. in southern Xew York, a son of 
Antoin and Man,' Scheffler, both natives of 
Germany, whence they emigrated to Amer- 
ica"when young. Soon after Mr. Scheffler's 
birth his parents decided to remove to the 
West in order to reap the lienefits of early 
occupancy of the new countr_\-, and drove 
over the mountains of Pennsylvania, 
through Ohio, and penetrating Indiana, set- 
tled on the banks of the ^^'abash river, re- 
maining there until 1840, when thev again 
traveled westward, and came to Lee county. 
Iowa. Here they first located at St. Paul, 
Marion township, and remained for two 
years, at the end of which time they entered 
a tract of go\ernment land as a "homestead," 
in West Point township, where they lived 
the remainder of their lives, working as 
farmers until the hand of death removed 
them from the scenes of this world. The 
father of our subject was widely known as 
a man of high and forceful character, being 
still remembered by luany of the older in- 
habitants. He was a pioneer of his religion 
as well as of his race, for he was the first 
to erect the symbol of the Christian faith, 
the cross, both at St. Paul and at U'est 
Point. 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



435 



Mr. Scheffler received in the pioneer 
comniunity in which his fortunes fell :i very 
limited educational opportunity, attending 
a rural school in an old log cabin which was 
used both as a school building and as a resi- 
dence for the schoolmaster. But the acquire- 
ment of other knowledge largely compen- 
sated for the lack of knowledge of books, for 
when quite young he learned the trade of 
coopering, and worked at it during the win- 
ter months for twelve years, while at the 
early age of fourteen he was taught to 
drive an ox team to a plow to break up the 
soil for planting and to swing the cradle in 
the har\-est field, and to do other hard work 
usually assigned in these days to strong 
men or performed by the aid of modern ma- 
chinery. He was thus variously employed 
until he reached his twenty-sixth year, when 
he was married, in 1862, to Miss Christiana 
Englenian, who afterward died, leaving six 
children, as follows: Peter, a resident of 
Lee county ; Emma, who married Samuel 
Tackier, and resides at Moline, Illinois ; Wil- 
liam, Edward, Clara, wife of Mr. \Vm. F. 
Hutchins, who resides in New York state, 
and Albert. Mr. Scheffler was subsequently 
married to Miss Elizabeth Furrer, who is 
also now deceased, and is survived by one 
child, Ida, wife of Mr. Albert T. Faith, of 
Wellington, Kansas, She is buried, as is 
also the first Mrs. Scheffler, in the Evcrhart 
cemetery, near the home farm. 

In 1862, just after his marriage, Mr. 
Scheffler rented a farm in I'"ranklin town- 
ship, where he was so successful in farming 
that in only five years, or in 1867. he was 
able to buy a farm of 200 acres, being y>art 
of the large farm be now occupies, and to 
the original purchase he has since added 



eighty acres of farm land and forty acres 
of timbered land of high (|uality and value. 
When he bought the farm it was in a very 
dilaiiidated condition and almost entirely 
without improvements, but by care and good 
management, combined with energy and en- 
terprise, he has greatly improved it in all 
respects, fencing the fields, erecting new 
buildings and repairing the nld, and bring- 
ing the land under cultivation according to 
modern methods, so that at the present time 
the whole establishment would compare fav- 
orably with any in .southern Iowa. He coit- 
ducts general farming on a large scale, and 
is especially interested in stock feeding, giv- 
ing particular attention just at the present 
time to registered Durham and black Polled 
Angus cattle, for which his farm is widely 
known. He often feeds as many as 1,000 
head of cattle, as well as large numbers of 
hogs, and at the present is feeding 500 head 
of hogs, which, in accordance with his 
usual custom, will be shipped direct to the 
Chicago market. 

-For a period of more than twenty years, 
however, Mr. Scheffler devoted himself 
mainly to the threshing business, which 
netted him very handsome profits, and for 
a time he was associated with his brother 
in running the mill at Donnellson, Iowa, 
which was also \'ery successful. In fact 
e\ery enterprise in which he has engaged 
has been successful in a high degree, owing 
to his careful attention to detail and his re- 
markable business ■iibility, his foresight and 
(|uickness to see an iip])iirtunit\- and his con- 
fidence in his own power to carry to a satis- 
factory' issue any matter to which he applies 
his talents. He has given his attention prin- 
cipally to business affairs, and has never 



436 



BIOGRAPHICAL REJ'IEIV 



aspired to the tenure of public office, but at 
tlie same time he never fails to discharge the 
duties of a citizen, voting for a candidate 
according to his personal fitness for the posi- 
tion which he seeks and without regard to 
partisan bias or affiliation, as he believes it 
to be in this way that the interests of good 
government are best advanced. In his re- 
ligious connection he retains the faith of 
his forefathers, being a member of St. 
Mary's Catholic cluirch. nf West Point, and 
has observed a lifelong fidelity to the teach- 
ings of his denomination. But the true key 
to his character lies in the fact that he is 
a self-made man. that he started in the 
struggle with the world erpupped only with 
his own strength and ability, and that he has 
by his own unaided efforts raised himself to 
his present honored position in the com- 
munity. For this he deserves great credit, 
the more so because his methods have 
always been marked by the strictest 
honesty and integrity anfl that he has 
been fair, upright and impartial in all 
his dealings, and. indeed, these facts in his 
career have won for him a high reputation 
for honor throughout Lee county, and he is 
universally admired and respected for what 
he has achieved. 



HENRY J. DOERINQ. 

One of the self-made men who have as- 
sumed substantial and respected pt;sitions in 
the business and social circles of Fort Madi- 



son, by reason of their own efforts and mer- 
its, is Hemy J. Doering. Although he is 
a young man, he has been engaged in useful 
activity evere since his boyhood, and it is 
probably due to this early training in habits 
of industry, management and economy that 
he has achieved success. 

Mr. Doering was born in Germany, 
February 3, 1867, and is the son of George 
and Mary (Harold) Doering. The father 
was born in the German Kingdom of 
Saxony ; came with his family to America in 
1S69. He was by trade a painter and paper- 
hanger, and during the winter, when it was 
not possible to follow this occupation, he 
was engaged as a butcher. Mary Doering, 
mother of our subject, died in Fort Madison, 
May 20. 1897, and is buried in the Catholic 
cemetery. They were the parents of six 
sons and daughters, all of whom are still 
Ii\ing. They are: Henry J.. Mrs. ^lary 
Hunt. Peter. John. Joseph. Valentine, all 
of [•"ort ]\ladison. 

1 lenry J. Doering was educated in the 
common schools and in Saint Mary's pa- 
rochial school. As a Ixiy he was his father's 
assistant in the work of painting and paper- 
hanging, and when young began his connec- 
tion with the market business as his father's 
assistant. Tims. b\' the time he attained to 
years of maturity he was already schooled 
in the jjrinciples of business, and was ac- 
(|uaintcd with all the intricacies of his own 
individual occupation. At the present time 
he has a thoroughly modern equipment and 
market at 1737 Third street, and enjoys a 
large and growing patronage. He is the 
owner of his business location and building, 
valued at $3,000, and in 1888 Iniilt a beauti- 




HENRY J. noKKING 



LEE COUNTY. I Oil '.I. 



439 



fill resilience at 1810 Third street, valued at 
two thiHisand dollars. 

Mr. Doerinij's religious connection is 
with the Sacred Heart church, and he is a 
meiuber of the German Roman Catholic 
Benevolent Society, of Saint Mary's : of the 
Sacred Heart Literary and Benevolent So- 
ciety, of which he is president, and of the 
\'oluntcer Fire Company. He is also at the 
present time- secretary of branch No. 118, 
of the Roman Catholic Mutual Protective 
Association. In his political faith he is a 
firm belie\er in the doctrines advocated bv 
the Democratic party, and a loyal supporter 
of its leaders. 

On July 30, 1889, in St. Mary's church, 
was celebrated the marriage of Henry J. 
Doering and Miss Catherine Dettmer. Mrs. 
Doering is of German parentage, and was 
born in I'^ort Madison. I'nto them have 
been born one daughter and three sons, as 
follows: Eda Margaret, l)orn November 
20, 1895; George Philip, Ijorn September 
29, 1898; Edmund Henry, born October 2, 
1901, and Peter Joseph, bom January 23, 
T904. 

Mrs. Doering is the fifth of a f.amily of 
eight sisters. The others are : Mena, Eda, 
Bertha, wife of Fred Struck, of Burlington, 
Iowa; Josephine, Rosa, wife of Edward 
Kueser, of Burlington; Mary, wife of John 
Hillesheime, of Fort Madison, Iowa, and 
Dorothy. 

Mr. Doering has many friends who 
wish him well. Steadily working his way 
upward in spite of manv difliculties, he com- 
mands the respect of his fellowmen by 
his honorable course and unfaltering 
perseverance. 



FRANK MILLMEYER. 

l""rank Millme}er, who was one of the 
early jjioneers of Lee county, and later be- 
came one of its leading and successful farm- 
ers, claimed Germany for his native land. 
ha\-ing been burn in that cmintry in the year 
1838, the .son of Frank Millmeyer, Sr., and 
from Germany he acc(jmpanied his parents 
to .\merica when only two years of age. 
On the arri\al of the family in America they 
came to Iowa and located in Fort Madison, 
but later remo\-ed to the country, where our 
subject was reared on a farm and learned 
by actual experience of its difficult duties all 
the details of farming, thus fitting himself 
for his later successes in that line of effort, 
and acquiring that strength of character 
w hich made him a man among men. 

.\pril 14, 1874, Mr. Millmeyer was 
united in marriage with Miss Catherine 
Hoenig, who was born in \\'est Point 
town.ship, Lee county, March 15, 1854, the 
daughter of Casper and Mary (Wolf) Hoe- 
nig, and a full account of whose genealogy 
will be found uu'ler the name of Frank Hoe- 
nig on aniither page of this work. Mrs, 
Millmeyer is a member of one of the early 
pioneer families of this county, her parents 
having settled in Lee county in the year 
1850, and she has a family of nine, ,'is fol- 
lows : .\nna, who died at the age of twenty- 
one years; John, Tracy, who is a resident of 
St. Louis: Mary; Lizzie, wife of .\lbert Bul- 
lard, of Fort Madison: Catherine. Paulina, 
Dora. Fred and Clara. The father of the 
family died N'ovember i, 1888, and the 
mother January 31, 1889. and it was felt 
that in their passing the community sus- 



440 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



tained a deep and irreparable loss, for by the 
loftiness and purity of their lives they ex- 
erted great influence for good. 

In 1880. six years subsequent to his 
marriage, Mr. Millmeyer purchased a large 
farm of 215 acres in Jefferson township, 
and on this the family has resided con- 
tinuously since. He managed it with rare 
discrimination, bringing to bear upon its 
problems a singularly clear and accur- 
ate foresight and a sound judgment, 
while he devoted himself to the work 
with energ}' and enthusiasm, overlooking no 
detail and never omitting to improve the 
slightest opportunity to the best of his abil- 
ity, thus winning a large success. He gave 
his attention to general farming and also 
to some extent to stockraising, and this has 
been continued by his family. Although a 
member of the Democratic party, Mr. Alill- 
meyer never aspired to public office, but 
contented himself with performing con- 
scientiously the first and most important 
duty of a citizen, that of casting his vote 
in favor of good and honest government 
after mature reflection upon the issues at 
stake. His death occurred in a singular 
manner, he having left home in a boat for 
the City of Nauvoo. an.d many days later 
was found drowned, tlie date of his demise 
being about November 10, 1898, and was 
buried November 26, 1898, a day on which 
all those who knew him well experienced a 
profound sense of loss, for he was one whose 
long career of worthy endeavor and unfail- 
ing allegiance to eveiything that was best 
won the universal respect and endeared him 
to manv, so that the errief at his death was 



at once general and sincere. Mrs. Mill- 
meyer, who is a lady of unusual ability and 
fine strength of character, continues the 
management of the farm with success. 



CASPER SWINDAMAN. 

One of the highly respected and sub- 
stantially successful citizens of Lee county 
is Casper Swindaman, now residing on his 
farm of 353 acres in Charleston township. 
He was bom in St. Louis. Missouri. Jan- 
uary 6, 1849. '"id as a child removed with 
his parents to LaSalle county, Illinois, where 
he received a good education in the public 
schools of that day.' From Peru, Illinois, 
he removed to Iowa in 1870, and located at 
Sandusky, where he conducted a butcher 
shop for the United States government, 
furnishing the w'orkmen on the Des Moines 
Rapids canal with their meat supply. In 
1877 he removed a third time, renting a part 
of his present farm, and occupying it for 
several years. Later he purchased 200 
acres, which he has since increased. Here 
he has erected a large and substantial dwell- 
ing-house, as well as other necessary build- 
ings, and has introduced many modern im- 
provements. All except forty of the 353 
acres are under cultivation, and the business 
consists of stockraising and general farming. 

]\lr. Swindaman is in his political ad- 
herence a member of the Republican organi- 
zation, as he believes the ascendency of that 



LEE COUNTY, lOW'.l. 



441 



party necessary to the continueil prosi)erity 
and well-being of the nation. He is in- 
fluential in the ranks of his party, and at 
the .present time holds the office of trustee 
of his township, being in iiis second term. 
He is also public school director, a position 
which he has held for a number of terms; 
discharging its duties with that strict fidel- 
it}' and practical ability which characterizes 
all his acts. Religiously he is a member of 
the Catholic church, and in his fraternal re- 
lations he is connected with the Independent 
Order of Odd Fellows. 

In 1875 Mr. Swindaman was united in 
marriage to Miss Amanda McCord, a na- 
tive of Lee county and daughter of Joseph 
C. McCord, one of the pioneer settlers of 
Iowa, he having come to Lee county from 
Ohio at an early date. He is now deceased, 
his demise having occurred about ten years 
ago. To Mr. and ]Mrs. Swindaman have 
been born seven sons and two daughters, 
all natives of Charleston township, and all 
educated in the public schools of that town- 
ship. They are: Lawrence J., Joseph C, 
who is engaged in railroad work ; William 
A., Walter, a machinist for the Santa Fe 
Railroad, and resides at Fort Madison; 
Charles, Frank, Eddie D., Genevie, wife of 
Simon Griswold, of Fort Madison, and has 
one child, (irace: and Katie. 

Mr. Swindaman is of German descent, 
being the son of Lawrence and Catherine 
(Kirn) Swindaman, both natives of Raden. 
They emigrated to America in 1838, and 
were married in St. Louis, ^Missouri. The 
father was a farmer during the latter part 
of his life. He died at the age of seventy- 
seven years, at Marysville, Kansas. The 



mother survi\es at the age of eighty-one, 
and resides at Marysville. Mr. Swindainan 
is well known throughout the greater part 
of the county, and no doubt this modest re- 
view of his life will be read with interest by 
his many friends, who respect him for his 
ability and his upright character and esteem 
him for his genial and social disposition. 



CHRISTIAN HARTMANN. 

In the career of manv a humble emigrant 
from the Old World who has braved the 
ocean voyage and the perils of a transfer to 
an alien people and a strange land, there 
is material for more tender and touching 
stories and studies of the heart and life of 
man than e\er have been i)enned. For the 
sake of a home and a career the timid ha\e 
Ijecome bold and the weak strong Fathers 
and mothers have left a land endeared by 
generations of melting memories; and with 
streaming eyes have sought a land of prom- 
ise that their children' might have room to 
rise in the world, as the good God had en- 
dowed them with strength and character. 
The )-oung have cnme that the nld might die 
under their own roof; and friends that those 
thev lo\"ed might have opportunity for free- 
dom and growth. I'rosaic enough the outer 
life, ;uid matter of fact enough the daily ca- 
reer, but the heart glows with its own riches 
and the inner life has its own illumination. 
To leave the home land and go among 
strangers is an act of courage, and may rival 



442 



BIOGRAPHICAL REJ'IEJV 



the bravery of the soldier on the field of bat- 
tle. It requires enterprise to contemplate 
such an ad\enture, and the men who remove 
to the New World are very largely men of 
character and nerve. They come because 
they crave a larger field and are bound to 
thrive. Of such is the man whose name 
introduces this article. He is of an ener- 
getic, pushing disposition, and in spite of 
serious reverses has won a very fair meas- 
ure of prosperity, and though still in the 
prime of life has had a somewhat varied 
and extensi\e experience. 

Christian Hartmann was born in the 
Kingdom of Baden, Germany. .August 24, 
1858, and is the only child of John and 
Catherine (Mes.smer) Hartmann. He re- 
ceived his education in the schools of his 
native community, and after the solid man- 
ner of his countrymen was trained a baker. 
When he was nineteen years of age he was 
called to do military service, and for two 
years was "with the colors." When re- 
leased from the army the young soldier pro- 
ceeded to earn,' out plans he had carefully 
formed, and became an emigrant to the great 
republic over the seas. So glowing were 
the tales of success and so inspiring the op- 
portunities as described by those who had 
already made trial of the land and people 
that he, too, must go. On his arrival in the 
United States Mr. Hartmann spent about a 
year in the City of New York, and then re- 
moved to Chicago, where for thirteen years 
he was engaged in his work as a liaker. for 
which, as already noted, he had been thor- 
oughly trained. 

After being at work so long a time Mr. 
Hartmann was prostrated by a serious and 



prolonged illness. Before he had recov- 
ered he had lost all his property, and was 
left where he had begim years before. On 
the advice of friends he left the big city, and 
for a time lived in Burlington, Iowa, where 
he worked at his trade. In the fall of 1896 
he became a resident of Fort Madison, and 
here for some four years he was busily en- 
gaged as a baker, working on good wages 
and saving his earnings. On the 21st 
of November, 1900, he was able to 
carrv into effect long-cherished schemes of 
doing business for himself, and started a 
bakery and lunch room at No. 115 Pine 
street. He had $500 of his own. and ran 
into debt $1,100 more. It was taking large 
chances, but two years later he had paid it 
all, and owned his stock and outfit without 
a dollar of debt. He purchased the build- 
ing in which he was doing business. Novem- 
ber 21, 1903, and today it is said that his 
entire fortune amounts to o\er Si 0,000, all 
of which has grown out of his original in- 
vestment of $500, with his pluck and energy. 
He has a large country- trade in lunches, 
gives employment to two bakers, two boys, 
and a clerk, and looks forward hopefully 
to a still more profitable future. 



THOMAS J. SIMPSON. 

It is always a pleasure for the historian 
to trace the record of the militan,- service 
of the gallant sons of the Union who 
rallied to the defense of their imperiled 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



443 



country in the jjreat davs of 1861 to 1865, 
and bore amid storms of sliot and sliell the 
starry banner to an overwlielming victory 
at the last. Tiiey were true men who left 
the plow and the shop and the study, to don 
the soldier blue, and fight and die on the 
Southern plains for the sjovernment of the 
people by the people. When, as is the case 
with Mr. Simpson, his services at the front 
exhausted his strength and vitality, and left 
him such a wreck that for twenty }'ears or 
more he has not been able to do a stroke of 
work, the sacrifice was complete, and it is a 
life laid on the altar of duty. Our country 
has many such, and honors them all with 
ecjual lo\ e and reverence. 

Thomas J. Simpson was born October 
8, 1 84 1, in Tennessee, and was brought by 
his parents up the Mississippi river on a 
steamboat in 1843, landing at Montrose in 
the month of May. 

Harmon Simpson, his father, was born 
in South Carolina, and was married in Ten- 
nessee to Miss Margaret Trainor, who was 
l)orn in Warren count)', Kentucky. To this 
imion were born nine children: Thomas 
J. was the fourth in order of birth, and four 
children are now li\ing, including him : 
Mary, the widow of Xelson Cooper, lives in 
Montrose; Margaret, wife of James Wright, 
is a resident of Burlington; John 1). is also 
a resident of Burlington. Mr. Simi)Son was 
among the earliest settlers of Montrose 
township. Two thousand Indians were then 
camped on ground now owned by Zach.iri.ib 
Owens. Mr. Simpson was friendly with 
them, and traded and mingled with them to 
his own profit and their convenience. He 
did butchering for the settlers, ran a farm 
and died January 4, 1861. 



The malcnial great-grandfather of 
Thomas J. Simpson, a Mr, Cummins, 
served in the Revolutionaiy War. The 
mother of Mr. Simpson died May 19, 1888. 
After the loss of her husband she never re- 
married, and both she and her husband were 
jiuried in the Montrose cemetery. They 
were members of the church of Latter Day 
Saints, and both saw the prophet, and his 
brother, Joseph, and Hiram Smith, after 
their assassination at Carthage. Thev lived 
in Nauvoo about two months. They were 
con\erted by an elder preaching in Ten- 
nessee, in company with several families. 

Thomas J. Simpson was a student in a 
subscription .school before the dav of public 
instruction. His first work was plowing 
corn at fifty cents a day. Before the open- 
ing of the canal at the Des Moines Rapids 
lie worked as a "rafter of freight." loading 
and unloading cargnes during the summer 
season for some ten or eleven years. 

At the time the Civil War broke out Mr. 
Simpson was employed as a farm latorer, 
receiving mmilhly wages. In January, 
1862. he enlisted in Comj)any B, Seven- 
teenth Iowa \'oluntcer Infantry, and served 
Uncle Sam as a private until September 12, 
1862. Capt. William Hpxie was in com- 
mand I if his company, and Col. J. W. Rankin 
of the regiment. lie was mustered into 
service at Keokuk to ser\e three years or 
during the war. His regiment was as- 
signed to the Second Brigade, Third Di- 
vision, the Fifteenth and Seventeenth 
Corps, Army of Tennessee. He took part 
in the seige of Corinth, the battles of luka. 
Champion Hill, and Chattanooga, and re- 
cei\ed an honorable discharge at Keokuk, 
September 12, 1862, on account of disabil- 



444 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



ity. He re-enlisted February 25, 1864, as 
a private in Company C, Third Iowa Volun- 
teer Cavalry, under Captain Wilson and 
Col. J. W. Noble, and was attached with his 
regiment to W'inslow's Brigade of Cavalry, 
a part of flie Army of the West. He par- 
ticipated in the Guntown expedition and the 
battle of Cupolo, Mississippi, as well as in 
many skirmishes of less importance. He 
was honoralily discharged at Davenport, 
Io\\-a, in Julv, 1S65. on account of the close 
of the war. He was in the hospital at Ham- 
burg for six weeks on account of poisoning, 
and was brought with others to the Estes 
House Hospital, at Keokuk, where he was 
treated for three months and then dis- 
charged in 1862. During his second en- 
listment he was under hospital treatment 
two months at Memphis, and was then trans- 
ported to the Simpson House Hospital, at 
Keokuk. . From this institution he was sent 
to Davenport, where he received his dis- 
charge as noted above. The sickness from 
which he suffered and from which he is still 
troubled, resulted from the poisoning al- 
ready noted, and assumes a form of epilepsy. 
On account of this serious disability he is 
a pensioner of the United States,, and well 
deserves every cent he receives from the 
hands of a grateful country. 

!\Ir. Simpson enlisted in the Regular 
Army at the close of the war. and was sta- 
tioned at Fort W'adsworth, Dakota, then on 
the fru" frontier. The soldiers were verv 
much occupied for some months in keeping 
the hostile Indians from predatory ex- 
cursions into Minnesota. They burnt brick 
and built houses at the Fort. He was in 
the Regular .Army for three years, nine 



months of 'wliich were spent in Galveston, 
Texas. After the expiration of his military' 
service Mr. Simpson presently came back to 
Montrose, and was aigaged for some years 
in hotel work, also being employed in the 
sawmill four summers and three winters, 
then taking up again the hotel work, which 
he followed for a time. He became dis- 
abled and for five years was an inmate of 
the Soldiers's Home, at Marshalltown, 
Iowa. \\'hen this period had passed he 
was given a pension, and with the bounty 
of the government came back to Montrose, 
where he bought a home, and has since led 
a quiet life. For twentv years or more he 
has not beai able to do a stroke of work. 
He ov.ns a place on First street, which 
com])rises a half block. He boards with the 
family that live in the house. He is a mem- 
ber of T\\) Best Post. Xo. 73. Grand Army 
of the Republic, where he now holds the 
position of Officer of the Day. In religious 
matters he is associated with the Reorgan- 
ized church of Jesus Christ, Latter Day 
Saints, which he serves as a deacon of the 
Montrose branch. In politics he was form- 
erly a Democrat, but of late years has voted 
the Republican ticket as the party for a poor 
and laboring man. 

Mr. Simpson has been much handi- 
capped in life by a frail physique, and his 
poor parentage. He has had to work out 
from childhood, a fact that interfered with 
his early schooling. His memories are vivid 
and interesting. He has recollections of the 
mob of 300 who came to drive the Mormons 
out of Nauvoo in 1846, and burning of the 
Mormon Temple at Nauvoo, in November, 
184S, which was attended by some 20,000 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



445 



people. \\"hen the Temple \\as burned the 
light was so bright at Montrose that one 
could see to piek a pin from the ground. The 
Icarians. a communist organization, came 
from France, and they proposed to restore 
the Temple as a place of worship, but it was 
destroyed by a cyclone. The Icarians left, 
and their place was taken by a Gennan set- 
tlement. At the present time nearly all the 
Nauvoo country is' occupied by Germans 
and their descendants. 



JOHN HARDWICK. 

John Ilardwick, who is one of the older 
residents of Montrose, and a most active and 
enthusiastic worker in the local organiza- 
tion of the Grand Army of the Republic, 
comes of an old Kentucky family long estab- 
lished in the "dark and bloody hunting 
ground." 

His ancestors have left traditions of their 
experiences in those far-away days when the 
beautiful and inxiting forests of that region 
rang with the war cry of the savage, and 
the wild beast, and the wilder man of the wil- 
derness made life a perpetual round of dan- 
gers. Now a land of peace, song and stor\' 
keep green the memories of the old pioneers 
who fought their way to the possession of 
a land fair and fertile after many years of 
blood and strife. John Hardwick himself 
knew little of this, as he was removed to 
the Indiana shore when Init a I)abe, and 



reared in a more settled community. It is, 
however, in his blood, and he is proud of 
what his forefathers did in reclaiming the 
wilderness and making jiossible the great 
state. 

John Hardwick was Ijorn in Kentucky, 
November 13. 1834, a son of Ivlw.-ird Hard- 
wick, who was born in Kentucky, and of 
Mattie Hooker. His parents were married 
in that state, but early removed to Indiana, 
where they found a home in L'lark countv, 
where the father devoted part of his time 
to farming. Our subject learned the har- 
ness trade at Lexington, Indiana, at which 
he worked five years. He served in the Ci\'il 
\\'ar, and was company saddler while in the 
army. 

The mother brought the family to Lee 
county, Iowa, and settled them on a farm, 
while the father remained in Indiana. Init 
after the passing of a year or more re- 
turned to him. They removed to Lee 
county in 1851. 

John Hardwick was married March 4, 
1855, to Miss Martha A. Scott, a native of 
Wheeling. West Virginia, where she was 
born in 1839. Her parents made the 
journey liy Ijoat to Lee county in 1847. ^^^'" 
father, Luke Scott, was born in Maryland, 
and Rachel Frazier, her mother, was a na- 
tive of Virginia, where they were married. 
He was a farmer at this time. 

Mr. Hardwick was engaged in farming 
for a time after his marriage, and was then 
appointed mail carrier from Keokuk to 
Charleston, Charleston to Bentonport, and 
Charleston to Franklin, making his trips 
sometimes on horseback, and sometimes by 
teams, though hiring much of this work 



446 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



done, and taking star route contracts from 
the government. He and his brother, 
Mitchell, were engaged on different routes 
by way of Keokuk, Montrose, Keosauqua 
and ]\Iuunt Pleasant daily, l)y way of Salem. 

In 1864 Mr. Hardwick enlisted in Com- 
pany C, Third Iowa Cavalry, having Wil- 
liam Wilson for captain and a Mr. Noble 
for colonel. The field of service for the 
command was extensive, covering Alabama, 
Mississippi, Georgia, Texas, Tennessee, 
Missouri and West Virginia, fighting weeks 
at a time for day and night. Mr. Hard- 
wick was company saddler, while in the 
service. He participated in important en- 
gagements in Guntown, Salina, and Ripley, 
Mississippi. Much of their service was on 
the skirmish line around Memphis. At 
Guntown the regiment met a severe defeat, 
and there Mr. Hardwick received a wound 
that nearly cost him his life, being struck 
on the head by an exploding shell, a piece 
of which struck him on the left side 
and that part of his head is still 
insensible to feeling. A gunshot grazed 
his left wrist and right arm, but he 
had no hospital record. At one time he had 
the measles and was assigned to the hos- 
pital, l)ut escaped by eluding the guard, and 
sought his tent. He was marked on the 
records as a deserter, but was pardoned by 
Colonel Noble, and missed no fight in which 
his command was engaged, though not 
obliged to bear arms because of his position 
as company saddler. His service with the 
company covered about nineteen months in 
all, at the hardest time of the war. 

When the strife had ended and the great 
host dissolved in peace, Mr. Hardwick en- 



gaged in farming in Pike county, Mis- 
souri, where he owned a farm on which he 
spent three years. In 1869 Mr. Hardwick 
returned to Keokuk, Lee county, and here 
he remained a year. In 1870 he came to 
Montrose under engagement with Healy, 
Felt & White, to take charge of the ex- 
tensive staljles connected with their saw- 
mill, and for many years Jie had the care of 
over thirt)' horses. Since 1882 he has been 
unable to work, and "has taken life easy," as 
the saying is. His home is in the village 
of Montrose, and he has built the most of 
it himself. Here he owns four lots and is 
(|uite fore-handed. 

As already noted, Mr. Hardwick is a 
devoted member of the Grand Army of the 
Republic, being sergeant of the Tip Best 
Post, No. 75, and is a constant attendant 
at state and county encampments. His wife 
was a charter member of the Woman's Re- 
lief Corps, an organization not now in ex- 
istence. In politics he is a Republican. 

Edward Hardwick, the father of the 
subject of this sketch, served in tlie Black 
Hawk War, and his son, Pliram, served in 
the Mexican War. This son is now living 
in Pike county, Missouri, and has attained 
the age of seventy-six years. 

Mr. and Mrs. John Hardwick are the 
parents of five children : William M., 
general manager of a grocery business, mar- 
ried IMiss Bertha Jones, of San Francisco, 
and is the father of one child, Perry E. ; Ida 
Belle, the wife of Seth A. Beemer, of Aimer, 
Ontario, and the mother of four children. 
Ivy B., Emory, Delia and Gile.sbie H. Mr. 
Beemer is in the employ of a canning com- 
pany. Perry E., twice married, but has lost 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



447 



both wives In- death. He is the father of 
two chikh-eii. Mamie D. and Ida B., and is 
now employed in a mill at \"ictoria, Louis- 
iana, as a sawyer. John E., a resident of 
Kansas City, is unmarried. Delia May, wife 
of C. W. Ivendall, of Montrose, a carpenter, 
and now marshal and street supervisor by 
appointment. The motherless children of 
Perry Hardwick are with their grand-par- 
ents. Mr. and Mrs. John Hardwick. where 
they ha\-e a pleasant and happy home. 

The subject of this sketch lived in 1862 
and 1863 in Salem, Henrv' county, where 
he ran a stage route. WHiile there he fed 
a company of recruits for the Union army 
three weeks. Both he antl his excellent lady 
are highly respected by all who know them. 
They are closely connected with the Meth- 
odist church, though never formally uniting 
with it, and are numbered among its most 
earnest supporters. 



JACOB YOTTER. 



Jacob Yotter, who is a ])rominent retired 
contractor of Fort Madison, deserves a 
place in this volume of history because of the 
fact that, starting alone in the world, and 
working his way without any outside aid 
and without any 'other capital than his own 
ability, industry and determined purpose, 
he has raised himself to a respected place 
in the community and achieved success of a 
substantial character. Born in Byrne, Ger- 
many, October 15, 1835, he came to Amer- 

27 



ica with his parents when about nine years 
of age. The voyage was made in a sailing 
\essel, and occupied forty days. The family 
first stopped at Keokuk, Lee county, and 
went thence to Charleston, where tlie father 
bougth a farm. ]\lr. 'S'otter, the father, died 
in \\'est Point in 1864, and is buried in the 
city cemetery at that place, and the mother 
is buried at Warsaw, Indiana. 

The early boyhood of Jacob Yotter was 
])assed on the farm, and there he grew up 
in the accpiircnicnt of those habits of 
thought and action which pro\-ed invaluable 
to him in his after life. With a view, how- 
e\er, to broadening his field of activity, he 
left the farm at the age of fifteen years and 
began to learn a trade — that of brickmason. 
At this and similar work he continued to 
employ himself successfully until about three 
years ago, when he was obliged bv the du- 
ties of pul)lic office to devote his time to 
other affairs in the interest of the city. He 
first located at West Point, where he lived 
for three years, working at his trade. In 
1888 he came to Fort Madison, where he 
built a home at 821 Sixth street, and here, 
for more than sixteen years, he has been 
in business as a carpenter, and while amas- 
sing for himself a goodly share of materia! 
wealth, has erected a large number of public 
edifices, which add to (he appearance and 
reputation, and consequently the prosperity, 
of his adopted city. Specimens of his work 
are the two church structures of the Metho- 
dist Episcopal denomination. ,i> well as that 
of the Engli.sh Lutherans, in Fort Madison, 
and the convent at Xauvoo, Illinois. He has 
Iniilt in all about fifteen churches and a num- 
ber of residences. The volume of his busi- 



448 



BIOGRAPHICAL REJ'IEIV 



ness was always so large that he was com- 
pelled to employ constantly a force of five 
or six experiencerl workmen. 

Mr. Yotter was married in September. 
i860, at West Point, to Miss Anna Carston. 
Thirty-one years of wedded life were theirs 
ere her death occurred at Fort Madison in 
the year 1901. Five children survive her, 
as follows : Frank, who married Miss Min- 
nie Robers. of Hannibal. Missouri, and fol- 
lows his father's trade ; Charles, who mar- 
ried Miss Gussie Best, and has his home in 
Indiana ; George, who married Minnie 
Deloshman, of Fort Madison ; John, located 
in Minnesota; Sophy, and Rosena, who is 
employed as a clerk in Eitman's shoe store. 

One incitlent of our subject's career is 
worthy of mention as showing his willing- 
ness to perform any duty which may appeal 
to him as for the public good. During the 
Civil War he was sw(irn into the service of 
the United States at Nash\ille, Tennessee, 
and was with the Union troops for one year, 
acting as blacksmith's helper. He is a 
member of the Methodist Episcopal church, 
and in j)olitics gives his support to the 
Democratic party. Fraternally he is con- 
nected with the .Ancient Order of United 
Workmen. He has never sought public of- 
fice, but during his residence at West Point 
was called by his fellow citizens to serve 
them in the office of alderman, and three 
years ago was appointed b}- the city council 
of Fort Madison to be street commissioner 
for this cit}-. which position he still occupies. 

In 1900 Mr. Yotter met with a most 
regretable accident in the form of a fall 
on an ice-covered sidewalk, which caused 
a sprained wrist, and later resulted in bone 



cancer which made necessary the amputation 
of the arm at the elbow. In other respects, 
however, he is perhaps a better specimen 
of physical manhood than most others of his 
age, and the high standard of his character 
is attested by the fact that of him all good 
men speak well. It is with pleasure that this 
sketch of his life is here presented. 



CHARLES KAMMERER. 

The Kammerer family has long been 
represented in the business and social circles 
of Lee county, by men of solid worth and 
character, not inclined perhaps to show and 
display but honest and upright. The name 
was known here as early as 1847. •I'lfl *'^''"" 
ing the almost sixty years now intervening 
it has been kept clean and free from stain. 

Charles Kammerer was born in Dela- 
ware, Ohio. February 12, 1846, and is a son 
of Gotlieb and Dorathea (Conrad) Kam- 
merer. The father was born in G.ermany, 
where he was reared in what was once the 
Kingdom of Wurtemberg. He early emi- 
grated to this country, and in 1843 made 
his home in Ohio, then the favored resort 
of home-seekers from the old world. In 
1847 ^■'^ joined the westward-moving throng 
of pioneer settlers and located himself and 
his family in Lee county, where he spent the 
remainder of his days. I'or many years 
he followed the butcher trade, in which he 
was cjuite successful, accumulating a very 
comfortable competence, and commanding 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



449 



the confidence and respect of all who knew 
him. He died December i. 1888, and his 
widow the following year. 

Charles Kammerer for a time followed 
in his father's footsteps and was also a 
butcher, and for a period of four years was 
associated in that business with a Mr. Bues- 
clier. Thinking an out-of-door occupation 
would be better for him. in company with 
his brother .\Jbert. he carried on the family 
homestead for four years, and then with 
this same brother he went into a InUcIier 
shop in l^^ort Madison. This was an under- 
taking which pnned liighlv successful, and 
tlie two brothers were still together in busi- 
ness when Charles died. September 10, 1896. 

Mr. Kammerer was a Democrat, and 
took a somewhat prominent part in local af- 
fairs. He lield the ])r>sition i)f trustee of 
Green Bay townshi]) for two terms, and 
was looked upon as one of the leading spirits 
at the various gatherings of the faithful of 
the party. 

The subject of this sketch was married 
February 11, 1879, to Miss Amalie Lach- 
man. She was born in Erie county. New 
^'ork, and is a daughter of Edward and 
Anna (Bruhne) Lachman. both nati\es of 
< iormauy. but married in the Citv of New 
York. Of their four children, Mrs. Kam- 
merer is tlie eldest. Mr. and Mrs. Kam- 
merer were the parents of four children who 
are now living, and une child who died an 
infant. The t'our living children are as 
follows: llenr\- G., Xelson C, Lena D. 
and 1 larry E. 

-Mrs. Kammerer still survives and is the 
recipient of tender care and solicitude fnim 



a wide circle of friends and relatives. She 
is a lady of more than the usual force of 
character, and her kindly disposition and 
ready sympathies make her a strong figure 



m llie ciimmunUx-. 



HON. JAMES BL.\KENY PEASE. 

Of recent years there has arisen a wide- 
spread discussion concerning the question 
of what really constitutes success, and while 
some aspects of the matter seem destined to 
remain unsettled, all ages and peoples have 
agreed that there are two modes of action 
which are entitled to the name "success" be- 
yond dispute. The first of these is a life of 
piety and honesty, and the second is a career 
of distinguished service to the state or na- 
tion. To both of these the Hon. James 
Blakeny Pease has conscientious! v and in- 
telligently de\-oted himself throughout the 
course of his long and useful life. He was 
born in Washington county, Pennsylvania, 
January 24, 1817, tiie son of Andrew and 
Mary (Blakeny) Pease. The t'alher was 
born in Maryland, and as a boy was brought 
by his father, Nicholas Pease, to Washing- 
ton county in 1769. Nicholas, the grand- 
f.ather. was born in Germany; came tn the 
I'm'ted States when seventeen years of age, 
and reared a familv in Washington county. 
There the father nl our subject was often 
engaged in garrison duty as a protection to 
his community against the raids of the In- 



450 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



dian savages, and at one time took part in a 
liattle of some importance at Sandusky, 
Ohio, June 4. 1782. He passed his hfe as a 
farmer in Washington county. His second 
wife, who became the mother of Hon. 
James P. Blakeny Pease, was Mary Blak- 
eny, daughter of James Blakeny, who was 
of Irish descent, and who married Ruth 
Drennan in Ireland, later coming to Amer- 
ica, and making his home in Washington 
county. 

Nicholas Pease was a communicant of 
the Lutheran church ; Andrew adopted the 
Presbyterian faith, in which his wife, Mary 
Blakeny. was reared. 

James Blakeny Pease was educated in 
the select and common schools, taking his 
Latin in the former. He was his father's 
assistant in the duties of the farm until the 
death of his parent in 1844, when he mar- 
ried Miss Elizabeth McCullough. They 
continued to li\e upon the home farm until 
185 1, when they removed to Lee county, 
Iowa, and settled in Marion township. 
There the wife died in 1856, leaving five 
children, of whom three survive, the eldest 
son, Samuel (j., having died of typhoid 
fever at Memphis, Tennessee, during the 
Civil War. Those living are : Frances M., 
widow of HeiHW V. Evans; Anna B., wife 
of Leblieus Clark, of Mills county, Iowa, 
and John McCullough, of Cedar township, 
Lee count3^ On coming to Iowa Mr. Pease 
bought a farm of 320 acres, vipon which he 
lived until 1865, when he sold it, and the 
following year purchased a fine grain and 
fruit farm in Van Buren county. In 1859 
he married Miss Catherine L. Crawford, 
who died in 1865. The ensuing fifteen years 



were de\'oted to agricultural pursuits at the 
farm in \'an Buren county. In 1880 Mr. 
Pease purchased a home in Fort Madison, 
and here he has since continued to reside. 
He has been engaged in manufacturing to 
some extent, but has now retired from ac- 
tive business. 

In politics Mr. Pease was reared as a 
Democrat, and has continued throughout 
his life a firm adherent of the political tenets 
of Thomas Jefferson. He has served his 
[larty and his state in prominent and import- 
ant capacities, and few men are better known 
in the state of Iowa for zeal and devotion 
to the public welfare than James B. Pease. 
Few men have done more effective service 
in placing the commonwealth in that proud 
position which she ocaipies today among 
her sister states. In 1856 he was elected to 
represent Lee county in the state legislature, 
and in 1873 was elected from Van Buren 
county to the state senate on the Anti-Mo- 
nopoly ticket. While a member of the legis- 
lature he held the position of chairman of the 
Committee of Reform Schools, and took a 
leading part in the regulation and better- 
ment of those institutions. Another service 
for which he merits peculiar honor was the 
]jart he played in the support of the bill to 
regulate the exorbitant charges of railroad 
companies. Since 1880 he has not been 
especially active in politics, but has, however, 
served a number of terms as justice of the 
peace in Fort Madison. 

October 17, 1867, Mr. Pease married 
Mrs. Catherine Brownlee, nee Clark. Cath- 
erine Clark was born in Washington county, 
Pennsylvania, December t6, 1826. She 
was a daughter of Joseph and Catherine 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



451 



( Andrews) Clark. Her grandfatlKT was 
Josepli Clark, a pioneer of Washington 
county, rennsylvania. There tiie father of 
Mrs. Pease li\e(l and died, he heing a 
farmer all his life. Mrs. Pease was edu- 
cated in W'asiiington Seminary, and was 
first married to Mr. Samuel T. Brownlee, 
who died in March, 1854, leaving three 
children: Xelson, who lives upon the old 
homestead; Adeline, now Mrs. Colin M. 
Reed, of Washington, Pennsylvania, and 
Samuel, a farmer of Lee county, Iowa. 
The\- are memhers of the Preshyterian 
church, of wiiich our suhject has been an 
elder for forty-tive _\ears, he having lieen 
a charter member of Sharon congregation, 
and being the only one of the eight original 
members now li\-ing. He organized the 
congregation in 1851, and helperl to build 
the church edifice. There he was elected an 
elder, and has served in the same capacity 
in i'ort Madison since 1880. Here he as- 
sisted in the building of the present church. 
During his earlier years he acted as Sunday- 
-■cliool superintendent and as teacher in the 
prison Sunday-school, at this place. In \'an 
Burcn county Mr. Pease was one of the or- 
ganizers of the Cirange. At the present time 
his principal work, outside the home, is the 
service of the church. To correctly esti- 
mate the life work of Mr. Pease would be to 
determine his usefulness in many lines of 
activity, for business, civil and religious in- 
terests have all been promoted through his 
labors, ])rofited by his wise judgment and 
benefited by his championship. To him 
justly belongs the distinction of being called 
one of the most representative men and hon- 
ored citizens of Fort Madison. 



W. C. WILLARD. 

W. C. Willard, a well-known and highly 
successful farmer of W'ashington township, 
Lee county, Iowa, is a native son of his 
township, where he was born April 18, 1859, 
the son of Sidney R. and Angelina (Rich- 
ards) U'illard. Mr. Willard received his 
early education in the district public schools 
and also attended Denmark .\cademy, mean- 
while learning thoroughly and in detail the 
management and work of his father's farm, 
a branch of his training which was destined 
to play a large part in the success which he 
afterward achieved. When twenty-two 
years of age he removed to the City of Des 
Moines, where he engaged in the real-estate 
business for two years, the first year being 
spent in erecting buildings which were dis- 
posed of the second year at considerable 
profit. Thereafter he reni;iined at the \ya- 
rental home until his twenl\-eighth year, at 
the same time, however, cultivating his 
farm, and this has since been the principal 
business to which he has dexoted his 
abilities. 

Mr. Willard has added greatly to his 
original farm, until now he owns 130 acres 
in the farm on which he resides and in ad- 
(litii>n 404 acres on sections u, 13 and 14. a 
total of 535 acres of extremely high-grade 
farnn'ng lands which compare favorably for 
productive quality with any in Lee county 
or southern Iowa .and constitute him one of 
the i)rincipal landhoklers of this section. 
Here he conducts general farming oper- 
ations on an extensive scale and engages 
largely in cattleraising and feeding, apply- 
ing to the care and proniotion of iiis v;ist 



452 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



interests tlie latest approved and scientific 
metliods and manifesting a thoroughly mod- 
ern spirit tiiat accounts in some measure for 
the gratifying resuhs which he has been 
able to obtain. When he purchased the 
home farm it was unimproved, but he at 
once erected the necessary buildings, put 
up fences and made main- other important 
alterations, to which he has since added 
very materially in many respects. He re- 
moved to tlie farm soon after his marriage, 
and has made this his place of residence 
continuously since. On September 26, 
1888, he was united in marriage to Miss 
Frankie Shephard, a native of Green Bay 
townshi]5, Lee county, and daughter of John 
H. Shephard. Mrs. Willard was educated in 
Knox College, after which she successfully 
pursued for a time the profession of teaching, 
and is a lady of many social graces, enjoy- 
ing jiopularity among a large circle of 
friends. The union of Mr. and Mrs. Wil- 
lard has been graced by the birth of two chil- 
dren, these being Helen Effie. born April 21. 
1892, and Clarence Shephard, born July 
16, 1898. 

Mr. Willard has ever exhibited a praise- 
worthy devotion to all worthy causes, and • 
is a generous contributor to the work of 
the church, being a member of Lost Creek 
Christian church, as is also Mrs. Willard. 
In his party affiliations he is a member of 
the Democratic party, in which he is a 
prominent and well-known worker, having 
at one time been elected to the highest office 
in the gift of his trjwuship, that of trustee, 
in which his business ability was employed 
to the benefit of his constituents. In the 
attainment of his present prosperous estate 



he has had many obstacles to overcome, and 
what he has accomplished has been done 
without assistance, being entirely the result 
of his own force of character, so that he is 
fully deserving of that old but expressive 
title of self-made man. These facts in his 
career ha\'e made him man)- admirers, while 
his genial disposition and absolute integrity 
and fairness in .all his dealings have won 
for him the general respect and a large num- 
ber of sincere friends. 



HENRY CATTERMOLE. 

Henry Cattermole, whose name holds 
a prominent place in the early annals of 
Fort Madison. Iowa, and who has now 
passed to his reward, was born in London. 
England. September 10. 1803. a son of 
William and Susan (Thompson) Catter- 
mole. His parents reared to maturity a 
family of eight children, five of whom came 
to the United States, and all of whom are 
now dead. 

At an early age Henry Cattermole 
learned the butcher trade, which he followed 
until his coining to the United States in 
1825. On arrival on these shores he was for 
a time engaged in a mercantile enterprise 
at Rochester, New York. This pro\'ed ur.- 
successful, largely owing to his C(Mifidence 
in pretended friends, liy whom he was 
grossly deceived, if not robbed. In 1830 he 
removed to Cincinnati, Ohio, where two 
years later he was married to Miss Eliza- 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



453 



beth Cattermole, a sister of Arthur C. Cat- 
temiole. wliose sketch appears elsewhere in 
this volume. She was a lady of many ex- 
cellent traits, and the union proved in every 
way a happy one. Mr. Cattermole was here 
engaged in a mercantile husiness. which 
proved fairly successful, Init which, how- 
ever, he disposed of to take up a similar un- 
dertaking at Appanoose, Illinois, where he 
remained until 1841. That year marked his 
location in Fort Madison, Iowa, where he 
set up a dry goods and pork-packing estah- 
lishment. This proved largely successful 
and grew upon his hands troni year to year 
to such an extent that in 1859 he formed 
with his brother-in-law. .\rthur C. Catter- 
mole, the mercantile tirm of H. & A. C. 
Cattermole, a firm which had an exceed- 
inglv creditable history, and which con- 
tinued unbroken until 1871, when the senior 
member of the firm retired in favor of 
Arthur C. Cattermole. This was done 
largely on account of the infirmities of ad- 
vancing age, though other interests were 
also intluential in inducing him to retire 
from the packing house. 

.\s early as 1856 Mr. Cattermole had 
demonstrated a financial ability that made 
its impression on the banking interests of 
the city and that year he connected himself 
with the banking house of Knapp & Eaton. 
In 1858, when that institution gave way to 
the Fort Madi.son branch of the State Bank 
of Iowa, and tlie i'ort Madison National 
Bank was organized, he became one of the 
original stockholders of the last-named cor- 
poration, and served as one of its directors 
imtil January 30, 187J. 'i'hat }ear its char- 
ter was suspended, and the Hank of Fort 



Madison was organized under the state law. 
Mr. Cattermole was one of its original 
stockholders, and later became its sole pro- 
prietor. It was very successfully conducted 
by him until .\pril 6, 1875, when he sold 
it to Charles Brewster and Joseph .V. Smith. 
.\fter thus disposing of the Bank of b'ort 
Madison Mr. Cattermole, in comjjany with 
others, the following year organized the 
German-.\merican Bank, with himself as its 
president, and his cousin and brother-in- 
law. A. C. Cattermole, as the vice-president, 
positions they both retained as long as they 
li\ed. 

Mr. Cattermole was universally con- 
ceded to be one of the substantial men of 
Lee county, and was highly regarded alike 
for his known integrity, his genial spirit, 
and his generous heart. In early life he 
was associated with the Whig party, but 
on the formation of the Republican party 
he became one of its zealous and active 
workers. In his later years, however, he 
was a Democrat. 

Ever a firm Ijeliever in the religion of 
Jesus Christ, Mr. Cattermole lived a life that 
l)rought no blush of shame to his professed 
faith. He was an attendant and a liberal 
su])porter of the Episcoprd church. 

Upon his death, Mr. Cattermole left in 
his will the sum of $10,000 for the building 
of a training school. As the sum was not 
sufficient to meet the re(|uirements of the 
be(|uest this section of the will was set aside. 
and his widow later put u]) a beautiful li- 
brary Ijuilding, which with its contents and 
equipment cost $30,000. It was erected in 
1893, and is called the "Cattermole Me- 
morial Librarv." It is a neat ami attractive 



454 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



luiilding. and is greatly admired by all who 
visit the city with an interest in the iiigher 
things of life. Mrs. Cattermole was 
much interested in its construction, but was 
called home before it was finally completed. 
Her last words were: "I wish that I could 
see it." It is of brick construction, and 
stands on Pine street, between Second and 
Third streets. 

Air. and Mrs. Cattermole were people 
of the best character, the kindliest spirit, and 
ever regarded themselves as accountable to 
Almighty God for the proper use of the 
wealth He had put into their liands. 



EDWARD HILLS BROWN. 

It was a boast of old that if the moun- 
tainous states of New England were of lit- 
tle value when considered from an agricul- 
tural point of view, they were of great value 
in raising men. And truly the men that 
New England has contriliuted to the making 
of the W^est have been of the large-hearted 
and the strong-brained order, men of might 
and men of mind, and who can tell the story 
of their achievements in these va.st regions 
taat are Udw great and p(i])ulous states! 
What would Minneapolis be withmit the 
State of Maine? Or southeastern Iowa 
without its splendid draughts of manhood 
from New^ Hampshire and Vermont? Of 
a thousand communilies in the West the 
same thing is true, — the men of thought 



and action, the strong and forceful pioneers 
were born and bred in the rough and rocky 
East. Among them is not to be lightly reck- 
oned the esteemed and honorable man, 
Edward Hills Brown, whose name intro- 
duces this article. 

Mr. Brown, long a resident of Denmark 
township, and now living in the village of 
that name, was born in New Ipswich, New 
Hampshire, May 9, 1836, a son of William 
and Lucy (Taylor) Brown, both born and 
bred in that state. The year of his birth 
his parents sought a home in Iowa, arriv- 
ing here October 26, 1836, making the jriur- 
ney with a two-horse carriage. They were 
a little over six weeks on the road. Im- 
mediately on Iiis arrival he entered upon 
government land and eventually became one 
of the largest land owners of the county, and 
at the time of his death, which occurred in 
January, 1877, being worth over $30,000. 
In his native state he had been a merchant, 
but misfortunes had attended him and he 
had ccnne a poor man to the land of promise. 
He lived to seventy years of age, and his 
widow, who survived him many years, was 
almost ninety when she was called away. 
He was devoted to farming and the dairy in- 
terests, and in the early days ran a thresh- 
ing outfit so that he was familiarly known 
as "old thre:-her Brown." Coming as he 
did from the moral heart of the country, it 
was to be expected that he should take 
strong ground as a determined opponent of 
human slavery. This he did, and was for 
years an earnest and enthusiastic abolition- 
ist. ' In religion he was a member of the 
Congregational church. 

Of the eiHit children born to William 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



455 



ami Lucy Brown, four were Ixiys and tour 
were girls : \\'illiani died at the age of sixty- 
three; Charles has his home in Alabama; 
Edward Hills forms the subject of this 
biography; George, torn in Lee county, is 
now dead; Eliza is Mrs. Day; Harriet mar- 
ried Newton Mills and lives at Houston. 
Texas, where he has a very valuable busi- 
ness; Lucy lives with her sister; Ellen S. 
married a Mr. Tibbetts, and has her home 
in Eldon, Iowa. 

Edward Hills Brown received his edu- 
cation largely in the district school, though 
he was for some time a student in Denmark 
Academy, an institution quite ni>ted in the 
early days as a school of high grade, and 
the finishing "alma mater" of many of the 
young people, who were afterward to be- 
come famous in local or general affairs. 
\\'hile still quite a lad he was acti\-e in help- 
ing his father bring their prairie farm under 
cultivation, and make it productive of ease 
and comfort. .Vfter the fashion of the times 
he mjirried early, becoming a husband when 
only about twenty years of age. His wife, 
Ellen Dudley, was born in New Hampshire 
and came into Lee county when she was 
sixteen years of age. To this union were 
born the following children; Arthur .\.. 
who lives at Summer, Missouri, and is the 
father of a family of four children : ("lar- 
ence, also a resident of Missouri, has a fam- 
ily of six children; Ettlee married William 
Taylor, and is now a widow with three chil- 
dren living; Charles lives in Mt. Pleasant, 
Iowa, where he follows the occupation of 
a well digger, and is the father of five chil- 
dren. Mrs. Brown died in 1888. and her 
ashes are interred in the local cemetery. 



Mr. lirown was married a second time, 
]\Irs. .\nn .M,. widow of John M. Deimer, 
becoming his wife. Mr. Deimer was a 
l)lacksmith by trade, and was working in 
the town at the time of his death. To this 
marriage were I)orn : Louis P., now a resi- 
dent of Mt. Pleasant, and the father of one 
child: .\Il)ert John and Cora Elizabeth, who 
are at home. 

After his first marriage Mr. lirown 
rented a farm, which be afterward bought. 
He sold it in T863, antl with his wife and 
two children went to Denver, Colorado. In 
crossing the plains he saw only two small 
herds of Ijuffaloes, though he was six weeks 
on the wa}-. He remained in the mountains 
only one summer, and while there was en- 
gaged in brickmaking, which proved then 
more profitable thaa gold digging. When 
he came back to Lee county, after his wife's 
death, he bought a place in the \illage and 
gave up acti\'e farming. In politics he al- 
ways took a very independent position, and 
voted for the men he thought most qualified 
to meet the duties of the positions they 
sought. In religion he has associated him- 
self with the .\(lvent body, and early united 
with the church of that faith at Mt. 
Pleasant. 

Mr. Brown was very early an advocate 
of the dairy interest as a relief for the farm- 
ers who suffered greatly from the low price 
of grain, and the excessive cost of transpor- 
tation. As early as 1856 he ran a cheese 
factory that required the milk of a hundred 
cows for its successful operation, and for 
more than thirty years he was devoted to 
this progressive enterprise. Though not 
now in active business he is still prominent 



456 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



in all local affairs and his experienve and 
standing-, together with his well-known 
probity, give weight to all he says. 



ROBERT CHESTNUT. 

Robert Chestnut is the name of a vener- 
able resident of Lee county, Iowa, whose 
home is on section ^i- of Green Bay town- 
ship, where he is now passing the closing 
years of an unusually protracted and useful 
life. Far down the hill the shadows fall 
and stretch away behind, yet his heart still 
sings of vouth, and the crown of years rests 
but lightly on him. Though his life is a 
link to bind us to the remote past, he is still 
hale and hearty and bears himself with that 
vigor and buoyancy that mark a peculiar 
\-itality. His natural force is still unabated, 
and his mind clear and vigorous; so that 
conversation with him' is a privilege and an 
instruction. Such men are rare in any com- 
munity, and especially so in any region 
where a single life may unite the wilderness 
and the pcDpled state, so that always they 
are reverently regarded by the thoughtful. 

Mr. Chestnut was born in Mercer 
county, Pennsylvania, May 20, 181 1, a son 
of Andrew and Mary Chestnut. He lived 
in his native county until the month of 
March. 1824, when he removed to Burling- 
ton. Iowa, coming by way of the Ohio and 
the Mississippi rivers to that city at a time 
when it consisted of a single frame house 
and a few shanties. With two other men 



he went to Augusta, where the three put up 
a saw and gristmill on the Skunk river. Be- 
fore coming to this county he had learned 
the carpenter trade, a business much in de- 
mand in a new country. After the construc- 
tion of the mill he put himself up a carpen- 
ter shop and prepared to follow his trade. 
A sudden rise in the river swept it away, 
and Mr. Chestnut was so discouraged at the 
unexpected reverse that he gave up all 
thought of immediate resumption of work 
at his trade, and coming into Green Bay 
township bought the improvements a settler 
had made on section 2,-' and when the land 
came into market he secured it, and be- 
came the owner of a fine farm of 120 acres. 
In 1836 he completed the title, and has since 
made his home here, though for a number 
of years he worked at his tratle in Augusta. 
In later years when carpenters became nu- 
merous and wages fell away to \'en' small 
figures he gave up the trade and devoted 
himself entirely to his farming operations 
which, taken together, have proved highly 
remuncratixe and satisfactory. 

The present house which he makes his 
home was built by Mr. Chestnut in 1850, 
prior to which a log cabin answered for 
family shelter. The orchard which has 
flourished for so many years he brought 
from Pennsylvania, to which state he had 
returned for a \'isit in 1830. and carrying 
back to his pioneer home buth seetls and 
sprouts, out of which came in time a mag- 
nificent fruitage that was the delight of the 
country for miles around. 

.Xnidug the memories that crowd the 
mind of Mr. Chestnut are those of Indians 
in the earlv (ku'S. He has seen at one time 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



457 



as many as twenty canoes going up the 
Skunk river, and, though they were un- 
(louhtedly friendly, it was a thrilling sight 
to contemplate them as representatives of a 
fast-vanishing race. It is possible that they 
seldom presented themselves to the pioneers 
in that light. Rather at their best they were 
a nuisance: and at their worst, "painted and 
hideous devils, just let loose from hell." Mr. 
Chestnut has seen and talked with Keokuk 
and Black Hawk. With the latter he made 
the journey from St. Louis to Burlington on 
the steamboat, and Keokuk was the first In- 
dian he ever saw. When he first came to 
Lee county game was scarce, as the Indians 
had driven it away by their close hunting. 
The skeletons of elks and Iniffaloes were 
still numerous, and he says he was here a 
year l)efore he saw a rabl)it. 

Mr. Chestnut was married in August, 
1838, to Miss Mary Haynes, and to their 
union were born three l)oys and three girls, 
of whom only two are now living: Na- 
poleon B., who lives upcMi the farm and is 
engaged in its cultivation : Llden Lore mar- 
ried Matilda Farmer, and is a resident of 
Coloraflo: his wife is now devoting herself 
to the care of her \enerable father-in-law, 
whose own wife passed to her final rest in 
the month of January, igoo. Her ashes re- 
pose in the Tierney cemetery. Mr. Chest- 
nut is a Democrat, and is ])ri)U(l nf the fact 
thai his first presidential \iitc was cast f<ir 
General Jackson. To his original 120 acres 
of land he has added ten acres, and still re- 
tains the ownership of the entire tract, which 
is regarded as very valualile. ' 

Illustrating the fruitfidness of much of 
the wandering and unwise journeyings i)f 



the western settlers, who went here and 
there and ex^erywhere in search of a fortune, 
which they might better ha\e secured by 
staying at home ruid ;ittonding strictlv to 
business, Mr. Chestnut left home May 10. 
1852, and crossed the plains, reaching Cali- 
fornia, his destination, the night before 
Christmas of that year. He went as far 
as Salt Lake on the direct route, and then 
journeyed south for a thousand miles to 
escape traveling in the mountains by win- 
ter. He was gone from home twenty 
months, and when he returned fountl for 
almost two years of hardship and privation 
he had cleared only $2.10. 

Mr. Chestnut is still a hale and hearty 
iu;ui, and scarcely a day is permitted to pass 
without his doing something around the 
house or yard, ^'et the long years are be- 
hind him, his friends are proud of him, and 
his children tenderly cherish and care for 
him. A beautiful setting for the closing 
period of a noljle career. 



JULIUS EICHHORN. 



Julius luchhorn is a notable rei)res<?iU- 
ati\'e of an old Saxon t";unil\-, ruid though 
himself born in this country, he has m;mi- 
fested in the course of a peculiarly active 
and interesting career many of the most in- 
teresting traits of his paternal race and 
blood. He has been industrious to a marked 
degree, and has never shown any disposition 
t.> shirk hard work or avoid his full share 



458 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



of the labor to be done. He has been 
prudent and economical, and while not mis- 
erly or stingy, he has never shown any dis- 
position to waste his money in foolish ex- 
travagance. He has kept his word and his 
pledge has been like a bond. Kind to the 
poor, and with an ear always open to the cry 
of the needy, he has ever been a good neigh- 
bor, a generous friend and an upright citi- 
zen. These are the virtues that belong to 
the Saxon lilood, and these characterize the 
career of the man whose life deeds and 
achievements are the subject of this bio- 
grajjhical history. 

Julius Richhorn. a prominent farmer 
and breeder of Percheron horses for twenty- 
two years, and a respected citizen of West 
Point township, Lee county, Iowa, has his 
home on section t2, of that township, was 
born in this same part of the county wliere 
he now lives, on section 7, August 28, 185 1, 
a son of Charles and Barbara (Holzberger) 
Eichhorn, Ijoth of whom were born in .Sax- 
ony, Germany, though married in the Ignited 
States. The father was highly educated in 
music, and well versed in the classics, lieing 
far above the common run in the extent and 
variety of his information, his strength of 
character and refinement of, soul. He came 
to this Country in \^'t,^. making the ocean 
voyage in a sailing vessel, a trip that was 
slow and dangerous, being more than six 
months on the water. His feet first pressed 
American soil in the City of Xew ^'ork, 
where, however, he did not remain but jour- 
neyed at once to Saginaw, Michigan, where 
for two years he was employed in a brewery. 
For about the same period he lived in Bur- 
lington, Iowa, after which he piu-chased 150 



acres of partly improved land in West Point 
township, Lee county, and here he spent the 
balance of his days in its cultivation. He 
lived to be a \ery old man, and kept his 
health and strength to the last, the direct 
cause of his death was the effect of a kick 
received from a horse when be was over 
eighty-five years of age. 

Charles Eichhorn was accompanied in 
his removal to America by his father and 
mother, then both advanced in years. They 
died in Lee county and were buried in the 
West Point cemeten.'. Charles Eichhorn 
was a hard-working man, antl passing 
through the hardships of the early days 
came out well and strong, and possessing 
a fine farm. Of a fine character and a social 
spirit he was popular with his neighbors, 
and had many friends in the community. 
Before coming to this country he taught the 
violin, of which he was a master, and after 
his arrival in this county was a leader of 
the band that on many occasions furnished 
music for Joe Smith and the Mormons. He 
was well acquainted with Smith, and also 
with both Black Hawk and Keokuk, cele- 
brated Indian chiefs. He served in the 
militia as a private, and assisted in the ex- 
pulsion of the Mormons from \auvoo and 
Illinois at the crdl of the go\-ernnient. In 
the early days he had many exciting ex- 
periences, and his family still preserve his 
rifle, his faithful friend in times of trial and 
danger. In early life he was a Democrat, 
later he became a Whig, and in the or- 
ganization of the Republican party, became 
its ardent supporter. 

To Charles and Barbara Eichhorn were 
born the following children: Henry and 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



459 



Adolphus, who are dead; Julius is tlie sub- 
ject of tliis sketch; .\melia, who is dead, 
and August were twins ; Edward ; Charles, 
who is dead, and Barbara. Both father and 
mother are now dead, and the green grass 
wa\es over their gra\es in the West Point 
cemetery. ?Ie was over eighty-five, and 
she also lived to advanced years, when they 
died. 

Julius Eichhorn received his education 
in the local schools, and remained at home 
until he was o\-er thirty years of age. In 
1 88 1 he was married to ^liss Anna Onstott, 
\\-ho was born upon the place they now oc- 
cupy as a home, on section u. ^\'est Point 
township, a daughter of John and Rachel 
(Bean) Onstott. of whom a sketch may be 
found on another page of this work, .\fter 
their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Eichhorn lived 
for eight years in Pleasant Ridge township, 
two years in Washington township, and 
then removed to Missouri, where they re- 
mained until 1901. That year they returned 
to West Point township, and settled where 
we find them today, living on what was the 
birthplace of Mrs. Eichhorn. Mr. Eichhorn 
has always owned the different farms on 
which he has lived, and he still owns the 
Missouri place, a finely cultivated farm of 
240 acres, as he does the farm on which he 
makes his lnjme, which comjirises 171 acres. 

Mr. and Mrs. Eichhorn have one child. 
Ella, who is at home a bright young woman, 
a charming lielle of the community, and a 
great comfort to her parents" hearts. The 
family is associated with the Presbyterian 
church in Missouri, and in politics he is a 
Republican. His Missouri place he rents, 
and his own home farm he devotes to gen- 



eral agriculture, raising what seems to be 
in most demand, and always aiming to meet 
the market. Mrs. Eichhorn has her father 
living with her. and finds much ])leasure in 
ministering to his last days. The Eich- 
horns are good people, honest and substan- 
tial in ever\- way. and it is a pleasure to the 
historian to render them this sincere tribute 
of praise. 



JOHN ONSTOTT. 

John Onstott is one of the oldest citizens 
of Lee county, and was among its \ery early 
settlers, his residence here dating from 1835. 
In that time he has seen a revolution 
wrought in agricultural and industrial con- 
ditions as great as passing of the world from 
winter to summer. The old hard condi- 
tions that made life so dreary have passed 
away, and men who work have op])ortunity 
to breathe and enjoy the passing days. With 
what infinite labor was accomphshed the 
farm labor of the pioneer days! .\nd how 
easy the work of the farmer of the present 
day! A multitude of labor-saving devices 
and improved machinery are at his com- 
mand, lie rides where once he walked, and 
is at ease where once he did the hardest 
work. It is a new world in which the 
farmer lives, and "the end is not yet." 

John Onstott, who has passed through 
many strange and wonderful experiences in 
his seventy years in Lee county, was born 
in Muskingum county, Ohio, January 22, 
1820, a son of Henry and Rebecca Onstott. 



460 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



The father was torn near Pittsburg. Penn- 
sylvania, and when quite young became a 
resident of Muskingum county, Ohio, where 
he spent his Hfe. The Onstott family is of 
German descent, and shows many of the 
characteristic traits of its ancestry in its in- 
dustry, integrity and moral worth. 

The subject of this writing was the sec- 
ond member of a family of five children 
born to his parents, all of whom are now 
living. His education was mainly secured 
in his native community, and in May, 1835, 
when he made his ad\-ent in Lee county, in 
company with his uncle, he was quite a 
strong and sturdy lad. The uncle made his 
home in West Point township, and here 
Jiihn Onstott attended school, making his 
home with his uncle until he started out 
for himself in 1840. He bought grain, and 
building a flat boat would descend the river 
with it to New Orleans, where lie would 
sell both grain and boat. Each trip would 
call for the building of a new boat. He 
spent several winters in New Orleans, and 
saw and learned much in that gay southern 
metropolis. He was in that city when peace 
was declared between Mexico and the 
United States, having with him 100,000 
bu.shels of oats and 500 bushels of corn. .\t 
that time oats were ten cents a bushel and 
corn fifteen cents in Lee county, so a very 
handsome profit was his. 

In 1840 Mr. Onstott purchased the farm 
on which his son-in-law now resides, and 
li\c _\ears later he married Miss Rachel 
Bean, a native of Indi.ina and of English 
descent. She remained (in the farm as long 
as her husbantl continued on the river, and 
though she found it at times lonesome and 



discouraging she was determined that things 
should go well at home while he was build- 
ing the family fortunes in the river trade. 
In 1852 Mr. Onstott concluded to devote 
himself exclusively to the farm, which from 
that time has been his home. In 1850 he 
built the handsome brick edifice that has 
been the family home to the present time. 
His wife died in 1901, and all that is mortal 
was laid away to rest in Pitman cemetery^, 
an old burying ground of West Point town- 
ship. They were both devout members of 
the Methodist church, and during a long 
connection with that organization did much 
to increase its power and usefulness. He 
has been a Republican since 1855. Prior 
to that he had been a Democrat, but when 
the clea\-age of the country came according 
to the new ideas, he chose to vote with the 
progressive elements of the country, and 
voted for General Fremont. 

Mr. and Mrs. Onstott were the parents 
of a family of ten children, of whom eight 
are now living : James, of Des IMoines ; 
George, in Colorado: William, in Kansas; 
Samuel, at Mt. Pleasant, Iowa: Jasper L., 
in Xorwalk. Iowa: .\nna. the wife of 
Julius Eichhorn, of whom a sketch appears 
on another page : 'Robert, in Kansas: Mary, 
the wife of P. R. Bruce, of Palmyra. Iowa. 

Mr. Onstott began life with no capital 
but a strong heart, a clear brain and a good 
bodily endowment. He has been indus- 
trious, calculating and keenly ali\'e to all 
the possibilities opening before him, and he 
has achie\'ed a \ery fair comi)etence. As 
one of the .self-made men of the passing 
generation, he ])osscsses the respect of the 
community in which he lix^es to an uncom- 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



461 



nion degree, for his manly qualities and uii- 
right character are not questioned. Some 
eight years ago he injured his knees, since 
which he has been an invalid, and is com- 
pelled to depend uixm crutches for his move- 
ments about the house. 



DANIEL F. MILLER, Sr. 

Daniel F. Miller, Sr., was born in Mary- 
land in October, 18 14, his parents removing 
to Ohio while he was still young. His edu- 
cation was secured principally in the Ohio 
schools, and at Pittsburg where he attended 
school when about fifteen years old. For 
some three years he was a teacher in Alle- 
ghenv. and for some three years was en- 
gaged in reading law in the of^ce of an 
eminent lawyer of that date. In 1839 he 
removed from Pittsburg to Fort Madison, 
where he practiced his profession for twenty 
years, and then made Keokuk the scene of 
his professional activities. In 1843 he was 
elected to the General Assembly and in 185 1 
was elected as a member of the national 
house of representatives, in which he served 
one term as a memljer of congress. At one 
time he was elected presidential elector, and 
was also a candidate for juflge of the su- 
preme court on the Democratic ticket. At 
one time he was a candidate for the United 
States Senate anrl was so voted for by the 
Democrats in the General .Vssembly, but as 
his party was in the minority was not 
elected. 



During his active career Mr. Miller 
had one of the largest criminal practices in 
the state, and his success was marked. He 
married Rebecca Phillips in 1841. in Pitts- 
burg, and became the father of ten children, 
of whom only four are now living. 

The life of Daxid V. Miller was as op- 
I)ortune as it was al)le. He was I)om into 
the world at a season befitting a nature that 
was adventurous, brave, enduring, loving 
and great-hearted. He was naturally 
equipped for a life of difficulties. The pio- 
neer era was comforting to liis sjiirit. and 
he engaged in it with the enthusiasm of the 
school boy. I'or half a centurv' he was a 
commanding figure in Town, and its law- 
making was largely influenced by him, as 
well as its law-giving ami its literature and 
morals. He was also a marked figure in its 
social life. In all of these he was a strong 
personality and his work was very strength- 
ening in its splendid example to all who 
cherished intelligent ideals. His heart was 
pure, his mind grand and intent, and his 
brain a lexicon and a cyclopedia. It was 
in literature that Mr. Miller manifested the 
possession of the \'ery highest powers. He 
was a great lawyer and jurist by profession; 
and, somewhat of necessity, in his profes- 
sional work there was a bare hint only of 
the imaginati\c facult)' that wonlfl have 
made him famous. .Ml his life he had but 
tnnched on the field of literature because he 
held to ideals that could not be cherished in 
any other manner. 

One can not go ;uiv\\hcre, ho\\e\'er. in 
American literature .and find ;i more perfect 
cxruuple of the exaltation of the Iiunian 
heart than is afforded by Mr. Miller's plain- 



462 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



tive stor}' in verse of "The Indian Girl," 
"The Wild Rose," the object of the liter- 
ary passion of his youth, an ideal of natural 
and womanly loveliness, untouched by art 
or consciousness, and as pure as a dream 
of heaven. He was an artist of experience, 
and came from the puncheon seats of the 
country district school to give to the world 
some of the best examples of formative 
thought then in existence. He knew how 
to chasten, and how to prune, and how to 
modulate. He could make a classic with the 
stroke of a pen. His sentences were like the 
running water. All the good law libraries 
have his standard work on rhetoric, and it 
is a book that is frequently referred to by 
the courts. Intelligent men everywhere 
hold but one opinion as to its value. 



DANIEL F. MILLER, Jr. 

The legal profession in the City of Keo- 
kuk, Iowa, has long had a brilliant follow- 
ing, and some of its more distinguished 
representatives have won a national reputa- 
tion. Others, who have not been fortunate 
enough to attain so wide celebrity, have still 
been noted for their mastery of the funda- 
mental principles of their great work, and 
have been noted for their forensic ability, 
voluminous learning and analytic powers. 
The bar at Keokuk is regarded as second 
to none in the state, and there the gentleman 
with whose name this article begins occupies 
no subordinate place. He is prominent in 



the city as a lawyer who understands the 
principles of right and justice, and who may 
be depended upon to apply those principles 
as a matter of equity and right to the de- 
tails of common life. Courtly and urbane 
in his manner, his knowledge of the law is 
broad and accurate and his personal char- 
acter high. 

Daniel F. Aliller, Jr., was torn in Wash- 
ington township, Lee county, Iowa, May 27, 
T851, being a son of Daniel F. and Rebecca 
(Phillips) Aliller, and was taken by his par- 
ents in 1859 to live in Keokuk, where his 
earlier education was obtained in the public 
and private schools of that city. He was a 
student at a later period of the Christian 
Brothers' College at St. Louis, and also of 
the Iowa State University, from the law de- 
partment of which he graduated in due time. 
He immediately located at Fort Madison, 
where he established himself in the practice 
of his profession. Shortly afterwards, how- 
ever, he entered into professional associ- 
ations with AI. B. Davis, under the firm 
name of Davis & Miller, which became, 
some years later on the dissolution, the firm 
of Aliller & Sons, the subject of this sketch 
moving to Keokuk for the purpose of prac- 
ticing his profession in that city. 

Air. Aliller was elected county attorney 
in 1887, and the firm of Aliller & Sons was 
dissolved, to be reformed six years later, 
when Mr. Aliller retired from official posi- 
tion and resumed his practice. On re- ■ 
organizing the firm it was called Aliller & 
Son, and here Air. Aliller continued in his 
legal work until the death of his father, 
which occurred at Omaha, in December, 
i8ij5, whither he had gone to visit his chil- 



LEE COUNTY, lOlVA. 



463 



dren. Since that time Mr. Miller has prac- 
ticed law alone in Keokuk. His practice is 
a general one, and during his long and con- 
tinued career he has had a leading part in 
many of the more noted civil and criminal 
cases that ha\-e been tried before the courts 
in this part of the state. 

Mr. Miller enjoys the possession of a 
very complete library of legal works,- and 
his mind is thoroughly informed as to all 
legal propositions. His judgment com- 
mands the high esteem of both the bench 
and the bar, and there are few who can 
safely undertake to controvert his positions. 
He is a member of the Lee County Bar As- 
sociation where, as everywhere else, he is 
popular and respected. In religion he is a 
member of the Catholic church, and in poli- 
tics a Democrat. He is also associated with 
several fraternal orders of the city, where 
his genial character and companionable 
ways commanil a host of warm friends. 

Daniel F. Miller and Miss Lillie A. 
Archer were married February 27, 1878. 
She was born and reared in Keokuk, and is 
a daughter of Col. S. M. Archer, who com- 
manded tlie Seventeenth Iowa Infantry dur- 
ing the Civil War. He lived and died in 
Keokuk, where he sustained a high reputa- 
tion as a 1)usiness man. }.Ir. and Mrs. Miller 
are the parents of four children: Daniel F., 
who is now connected with the editorial de- 
partment of die Chicago Tribune; Mary 
Elizabeth ; .\rcher C, a student in the high 
school, and Lillian, also a student in the 
public school. The last three are at home, 
and all were bom in Keokuk. 

The son, whose career we ha\e some- 
what hastily noted in this article, is a 
worthy successor of his father and walks in 

28 



the s.ime broad way of professional ability, 
literary excellence and personal character. 
A brilliant name suffers no deterioration 
at his hands. 



SAMUEL F. RICHARDSON. 

It is indeed seldom that the pen of the 
historian is privileged to assume a more 
agreeable task than is here found in writ- 
ing the life chronicle of the subject of the 
present review, an old and highly respected 
citizen of Green Bay township, Lee county, 
Iowa, a man who has played a worthy part 
in the upbuilding of the community of which 
he is an honored member, and one whose 
ambitious and enterprising spirit has made 
him successful in all he has undertaken. 
Samuel F. Richardson was born February 
6, 1833, in Miamitown, Hamilton county, 
Ohio, the son of David Richardson, the 
father was born in New Jersey and the 
mother, whose maiden name was Foster, 
\vas bom in Maryland. They were mar- 
ried in Hamilton county, Ohio, near Cin- 
cinnati, w hence they soon afterward removed 
to Hancock, Indiana, where they remained 
until 1846, and then came to Lee county, 
Iowa, locating upon a farm near Ivanhoe 
Park at Fort Madison. There David Rich- 
ardson purchased a farm of 262 acres at ten 
dollars an acre, and to this farm he devoted 
the efforts of his remaining years, placing 
it under cultivation and operating it very 
successfully. 

Samuel Richardson, our subject, was the 



464 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



fifth of a family of six children, and was 
a child four years of age when he removed 
with his parents to Indiana, and but thir- 
teen years of age when he came with them 
to Lee county. He received a good com- 
mon-school education in the public schools, 
as well as a careful home training, and was 
reared to the business of farming, early 
learning its lessons thoroughly by hard prac- 
tical experience, f()llo\\ing the plow and the 
harrow and wielding the cradle and flail, 
tilling the soil, sowing the seed and reap- 
ing the ripened harvest in its season. 
Thus engaged in the occiipation which 
was to be his life work he continued 
until his twenty-first year, when, in 
company with a party of eleven others, 
he set out for the Pacific coast on a trad- 
ing expedition, taking with him a herd of 
250 cattle for sale. Starting April 21. 1854, 
he traveled overland across the plains, ar- 
riving, on August 25, at Sacramento river, 
in California, where he disposed of his herd 
at a price exactly double the investment, 
and then made the return journey by ship 
to Aspinwall, across the Isthmus of Panama 
■by rail, then by ship to New York, and 
thence through the Dominion of Canada 
by rail to Fort Madison, after having been 
absent for a year. 

Following this first independent and 
highly successful venture, Mr. Richardson 
worked on his father's farm for a year, at 
the end of which he bought a farm of 200 
acres across the Mississippi river in Illinois, 
but after three years he sold it and removed 
to his present farm of 200 acres, which was 
formerly the property of his father-in-law, 
and here he has resided ever since. As a 



result of his intelligent efiforts and direction, 
the land has been brought under the rule of 
modem improvements, fine large barns and 
necessary buildings have been constructed 
on the farm, and an elegant and com- 
modious dwelling of brick has been erected, 
surrounded by beautiful grounds and stately 
shade trees. He has given much attention 
to fanning, and for many years has made 
a specialty of the rearing of thoroughbred 
Shorthorn cattle and high-grade Clydes- 
dale and Hambletonian horses, a pursuit 
wliich has made his stables famous far and 
near and in which he has done much to 
increase the reputation and prestige of these 
valuable breeds of stock in the middle West. 
On September 21, 1856, Mr. Richard- 
son was united in marriage to Miss Caroline 
Hyter, a daughter of Abraham and Nancy 
A. ( Phares) Hyter, who were natives of 
Maryland and New Jersey, respectively, but 
settled in Green Bay township in 1845, and 
here spent the rest of their lives. Mrs. 
Richardson, who is the only survivor of a 
family of eight brothers and sisters, was 
born in Dearborn county, Indiana. October 
I, 1833. To Mr. and Mrs. Richardson have 
been born four sons and five daughters, as 
follows : Angeline. who died in infancy ; 
Roscoe A., who is the present manager of 
his father's farm; William F., who died at 
the age of ten years ; Clement Clarence, who 
died when five years of age; Clara, whose 
death occurred in childhood ; Alice, who 
mari-ied Charles Willard, of Washington 
township, Lee county, and has one child. 
Earl Grover; Ida. deceased wife of Charles 
Parker, who is survived by a daughter, 
Lulu : and Caroline, wife of Clyde Sheppard, 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



465 



who resides in Green Bav townsliip and has 
one son, Samuel Clyde. 

That Samuel Richardson enjoys the re- 
spect and confidence of his neiglibors and 
fellow citizens is amply evidenced by the 
fact that he has, on various occasions, been 
called upon to serve the public in numerous 
capacities of honor and trust, among these 
being the important office of trustee of 
Green Bay township, in which he gave an 
eminent!}' business-like and highly satis- 
factory administration, and he has also at 
the request of friends acted as director of 
the public schools, an office in which he 
was able to render valuable assistance to 
the cause of education, in which he is a firm 
believer and to which he has ever given all 
the encouragement in his power, realizing 
that the public-school system is the foun- 
dation stone of our national liberties, and 
that a wise o\'ersight of the training of 
youth is the price of our continued greatness 
as a- people. He has also played an im- 
portant part in the political life of Lee 
county, taking part in public activities as a 
member of the Democratic party, for whose 
success he has consistently labored through- 
out his career without hope of reward, and 
in whose counsels his voice has carried 
weight and authorit)'. He believes its prin- 
ciples to be more thoroughly in accord with 
the fundamental spirit of American insti- 
tutions than that of any other party, and 
that he is therefore morally obliged to as- 
sist in its struggle for supremacy ; and it 
is conceded that no small . share of the 
party's success in this section of Iowa is 
due to his efforts and personal influence. On 
the other hand, he has not neglected the 



higher interests of buni,-uiit_\'. an<l Mr. and 
Mrs. Richardson are members and generous 
supporters of the Christian church, taking 
an interest in all its work and assisting the 
cause of religion by every means in their 
I)ower. Mr. Richardson's life has been one 
of constant usefulness and success, and in 
all his dealings with his fellow men he has 
striven to be strictly honest and impartial, 
always seeking to guard against doing any 
man an injustice, preserving at all times an 
upright, honorable and absolutely unwaver- 
ing course of integrity — a mode of life 
which has brought its own reward in the 
esteem of all who knew him as he is. In 
his career as a farmer and a business man, 
bis qualities of foresight and ready appreci- 
ation of an opportunity, added to an unfail- 
ing perseverance in all circumstances, how- 
ever adverse, ha\'e brought him worldly 
wealth and enabled him in his later years to 
retire from active affairs and to enjoy in 
ease the fruits of a life well spent. 



JOHN HENDERSON CRAIG. 

History is held by writers and readers 
as a mighty mirror, reflecting the images 
and deeds of great men, and some of these 
heroes are pictured with such overtowering 
])roportions that tliey monopolize the 
tliought and admiration of the world. 

It is one i)rovince of biography to cor- 
rect the exaggerated and unjust discrimi- 
nations of history and give a due proportion 



466 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



of praise to some of those who aided in 
elevating those heroes to their high his- 
torical plane and by manly deeds, honest 
lives and eloquent words added to the prog- 
ress and glory of our common countiy. 

To portray human actions and char- 
acteristics with honest fidelity should be the 
aim of the biographer. And as a man 
worthy of higli position and the dearest 
memory in the annals of Iowa and the 
Union we shall unhesitatingly place as com- 
peer with the great men who have preceded 
him. Keokuk's honored and lamented citi- 
den. John FT. Craig. 

The suliject of this brief sketch was 
born on a farm near Claysville, Washing- 
ton county, Pennsylvania, July 31, 1824, 
of which county his parents were also na- 
tives. His early years were spent upon the 
farm, pursuing the usual duties of a farmer 
boy about the old homestead but receiving 
a good common-school education. These 
advantages were supplemented by courses 
in chemistry, philosophy, rhetoric and alge- 
bra. He studied later under the instruction 
of the pastor of his church. As early as at 
the age of fifteen years Mr. Craig left the 
farm, taught school one term and then at- 
tended the West Alexander Academy at 
West Alexander, Pennsylvania, for a period 
of four years. Completing the academic 
course in 1845, he engaged in teaching at 
the academy for a year, when he entered the 
junior class at Washington and Jefiferson 
College, from which institution he was 
graduated in 1848, meeting the expenses of 
this collegiate course by acting as a tutor 
of Latin and (ireek in the college. 

In the spring of 1849, ^l^''- Craig com- 



menced the study of law with Hon. T. M. 
T. McKennen, ex-secretan- of the interior 
and ex-member of congress. He had, how- 
ever, so closelv confined himself to his 
studies in school that his health forbade his 
continuing them further, so, in the spring 
of 1850 he went to Natchez, Mississippi, 
where he devoted himself to literary pur- 
suits and teaching. In the fall of 1853 his 
health being perfectly restored, he returned 
to his Pennsylvania home. The following 
year he went to Wheeling, Virginia, now 
West Virginia, and resumed his law studies. 

The death of his father occurred al)out 
that time and he returned home to settle 
the estate. Afterwards he entered the law 
ofiice of Hon. William Montgomery, of 
Washington, Pennsylvania, congressman 
from that district. Here he pursued his 
studies one year and was admitted to the bar 
in 1856. After the death of his mother, in 
November of the same year, Mr. Craig con- 
cluded to seek his fortunes in the West, 
having now no very strong ties to l)ind him 
to his native state. 

In the following spring, 1857, he came 
to Iowa, stopping in Keokuk to ^•isit 
friends. During this visit he was induced 
to form a law partnership with Judge R. P. 
Lowe, afterwards governor of Iowa, and 
John W. Noble, who rose to distinction as 
a general in the War of the Rebellion, be- 
came secretary of the interior in President 
Benjanun Harrison's cabinet, and now a 
prominent lawyer at St. Louis, Missouri. 
The fall of that year Judge Lowe was 
elected governor and the partnership was 
dissolved. Mr. Craig, however, continued 
in active practice until about 1888, when 



1 



LEE COUNTY. IOWA. 



467 



his health precluded the possibility of con- 
tinuing professional jnirsuits. 

During his jjractice he was associated 
with different attorneys. The last firm with 
which he was connected was that of Craig, 
McCrary & Craig, composed, besides him- 
self, of A. J. McCreary and John E. Craig, 
a nephew. He was an earnest student, a 
conscientious law\er. a finished urator. a 
valued citizen, and above all an honest man. 
He was a magnetic pleader at the bar. and 
never allowed a difficult point of law to go 
unmastered. In life he liore the fame of 
being one of the ablest attorneys in the West 
and was regarded all over Iowa as a bril- 
liant lawyer. 

The lirst important case with which Mr. 
Craig was connected was that of Nash and 
Redoubt, charged with the murder of Har- 
rison, partner of the late Patrick Gibbons, 
in which he ably assisted in the prosecution, 
and he was connected with nianv nf the im- 
portant cases in Lee county and other coun- 
ties of the state and in the supreme court 
of the state. 

In politics Mr. Craig was a stanch 
Democrat but always declined to be a candi- 
date for office though man)- times solicited 
to break the rule of his life. In educational 
matters he always took the deepest inter- 
est and was for sixteen years or more a 
member of the board of education of Keo- 
kuk. He was the president of the College 
of Physicians and Surgeons, one of the 
oldest and best-known medical colleges of 
the W'est. for a number of years i)rior to 
his death. For about thirty years he was 
attorney for the Iowa State Insurance Com- 
pany, having made a special study of Insur- 
ance laws. He was a consistent and devout 



member of the first Westminster Presby- 
terian church and until he became broken in 
health was a constant attendant at the 
services, always taking an active ])art in 
religious matters. 

Mr. Craig was of fine literary taste and 
culture and would have taken rank with the 
best in that tleld had he chosen to enter it 
more largely. Some of liis lectures were 
gems of the platform. But he was the kind 
of genius who hid his brilliant attainments 
from the world rather than proclaim them 
from the housetops. Mis writings and 
])oems were never published but many of 
them are preserved as jirecious familj' relics 
in happy memory and as evidences of the 
power of the man. 

John H. Craig was married December 
24, 1863, at Madison, Wisconsin, to Miss 
.Mice Read, daughter of Hon. Daniel Read, 
who was for many years connected with the 
State L'niversity of Indiana, was later presi- 
dent of the State University of Wisconsin, 
ruid who at the time of his death was presi- 
dent of the State University of Missouri. 
Mrs. Craig survives her husband with the 
following children: Daniel Rend Craig, su- 
perintendent of construction of the XcMih- 
western Telephone Company, of Illinois; 
Miss Rertha R. Craig, teacher of hi.story in 
the Keokuk high school ; Theodore A. 
Craig, attorney in Keokuk, and ex-Mayor 
of the cit\-. and Hugh H. Craig, attorney 
and mem1;er of the board of education of 
Keokuk. Air. Craig was also eminent as a 
husljand and father. He loved his home 
and family. Their welfare and happiness 
were his delight. The great lawyer, the 
busy citizen, the untiring student was never 
too engrossed in the affairs of life to turn 



468 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



the ear away from the cah of wife or cliild. 
His home was his lo\'ed paradise on earth, 
where rest and comfort and happiness came 
as a ben i son. 

After an ilhiess existing over four years. 
during which time he was incapitated for 
the duties of his profession, Hon. John H. 
Craig passed away peacefully Monday, Sep- 
tember 1 8, 1893. ^Ii"- Craig was first 
stricken during the ^larch. 1888. term of 
the district court and wliile addressing a 
jury he sank to the floor and was borne to 
his home. From this attack, which the 
physicians said was caused by the rupture 
of a small blood vessel in the brain, he re- 
covered sufficiently to resume the duties of 
his profession until in January. 1889, he 
suiifered another attack while sitting at his 
home. At the time it was thought this at- 
tack would prove fatal, but he again rallied 
so that he was able to walk about. From 
that time, however, his life work' was over 
and the great legal mind and eloquent 
tongue ceased their labors, until after more 
than four years "he drew the draperv of his 
couch about him and lay down to pleasant 
dreams." The end had come. 

Citizens of every class and creed felt 
with moistened eye the great loss 'that had 
befallen the city. The State of Iowa 
echoed the lament from Keokuk. The Keo- 
kuk bar passed resolutions of regret and 
eulogy as did also the Iowa State Insurance 
Company and the Keokuk School Board of 
which he was so long a member and presid- 
ing officer. The press of Iowa, of Pennsyl- 
vania, the commonwealth which gave him 
Ijirth. and of other states gave high tribute 
to the goodness and greatness of Mr. Craig. 



WILLIAM EITMAN. 

William Eitman, who is now deceased, 
was born in Germany, near Bremen, Feb- 
ruary 22, 1 83 1, and came to this country in 
1848; was on the ocean sixty-eight 
days, it requiring that time to make 
the voyage in a sailing \essel from his 
native city to New Orleans, where he trans- 
ferred himself and his belongings to a Mis- 
sissippi river steamboat to journey to St. 
Louis. Missouri. He learned the marble- 
cutter's trade and found employment in this 
line at \arious places along the river, in 
Ouincy. Burlington and Muscatine, and re- 
turning to Burlington in August. 1856, he 
engaged in the grocery business for several 
years, later entering into business with T. 
W. Barhydt, and in 1862 he arrived in 
Fort Madison. 

The young lad, only sixteen years of 
age when he left his Fatherland, had now 
become a man of thirty, a keen and shrewd 
business man, and ready for the whirl of for- 
tune, or the decree of fate. He had worked 
hard, sa\'e<l his money, and was ready for 
such important commercial enterprises as 
circumstances might open to him. In Fort 
Madison, in 1862. he opened a shoe store 
in company with T. ^\^ Barhydt. with 
whom he continued business for ten years 
under the firm name of T. W. Barhydt & 
Companv. after which Mr. Eitman became 
sole owner of the business, which he car- 
ried on under his own name until his cleath 
which occurred February 28. 1900. 

Mr. Eitman was a devoted member of 
the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and 
it is not too nuich to sav of him that he 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



469 



lived up til the best principles of this fra- 
ternity, in whose welfare he was deeply 
interested. Politically he was a Republican, 
and was known as a broad-minded, patriotic 
citizen, anxious to promote the best inter- 
ests of his adopted country. For this pur- 
pose he used his political rights, to put good 
men into office and promote wise and help- 
ful political measures, and not merely to 
gain partisan advantage or to put the men 
on the ticket into office. 

Mr. Eitman was married in Wapello, 
Iowa. August 19, 1856, to Miss Johanna 
Hintzen, who was born in Germany, Sep- 
tember 3, 1837. She came to this country 
in company with her parents when abnut 
eleven years old. She is still living, as are 
four of the five children born to her mar- 
riage with Mr. Eitman : Clara, the wife of 
D. W. Evans, clerk in the Inter-State Na- 
tional Bank. Kansas City. Missouri, and the 
mother of two boys, — Harold and Russell; 
Emma, the wife of F. E. Lof green, died 
December 10, 1890, at the age of thirty 
years, leaxing two daughters, — Josephine 
and Laura ; William H. lives at home ; 
Laura, a stenographer with S. & J. C. Atlee 
Lumber Company ; Francis, manager of the 
store since the death of Mr. Eitman. Laura 
and Francis are graduates of the Fort Madi- 
son high school, and are young people of 
more than the average intelligence and gen- 
eral knowledge. 

Tlie lutman famil_\- are members of the 
First Methodist Episcopal church of I'ort 
Madison, and their sincere dex'otion. high 
character and clean and wholesome li\ing 
make their membership doubly significant. 
The famih- himic is at the corner nf Third 
and Walnut streets, and it is tlie center of 



an invigorating and enkindling social life 
that exerts an uplifting and refining influ- 
ence on all who come within its sunny 
atmosphere. 

Mrs. Eitman has a sister and a brother 
in Louisville, Kentucky, Mrs. Frances Lau- 
fer and J. H. Hintzcn, where she was reared 
herself, the family later removing to 
Wapello,- Iowa, where occurred the death 
of her mother August 12, 1864. Her father 
died in Louisville. Kentucky, January 17, 
1880. 

The parents of the subject of this writ- 
ing nex'er came to this country, but lived 
and died in their German Fatherland. They 
had a large family, and one of their sons, 
Frank, is a resident of Muscatine, Iowa. 
Another son. Herman, lives near New Han- 
over, Missouri ; and a daughter, Rebecca, 
in Missouri. 

The remains of Mr. Eitman are at rest 
in the family lot in the city cemetery of F"ort 
Madison. The mother and three children 
occupy the commodious home at the Corner 
of Third and Walnut streets. The store is 
at No. 717 Second street. 

The father of Mrs. Eitman was l)orn in 
Germany in 1800, and was trained to busi- 
ness as a wholesale manufacturer and dealer 
in cliitli. V>y a series of misfortunes he lost 
his propert}' and came to the I'nited States 
in 1848. to mend if ])ossib!e his broken re- 
sources. .\t the time of his settlement in 
L()uis\ille that same year, he was a man well- 
ad\anced in \ears. being some forty-eight 
years old. His energy, industry and thrift 
carried him through many a difficulty, and 
at last he did recou]), in a measure at least, 
his wasted fortunes. 

Mrs. Eitman's grandfather. Adolph 



470 



BIOGRAPHICAL REJ'IEW 



Liidwig Von Gnstorf, was a man of edu- 
cation, and was employed in the Royal 
Schools of Prussia as an instructor. 

Of Mr. Eitman, personally, it mav be 
said that he was a man of good and clean 
history, living a life upright and honest, and 
presenting to the world an example of in- 
dustr)', integrity and unaffected kindness 
and human sympathy, good for all to imitate 
and follow. 



GEORGE P. JENKINS, M. D. 

Dr. George F. Jenkins, president and 
professor of principles and practice of medi- 
cine, physical diagnosis and clinical medi- 
cine in the Keokuk Medical College, Col- 
lege of Physicians and Surgeons, at Keo- 
kuk, has been identified with this institution 
for a quarter of a century. He has won 
more than local renown because of the suc- 
cessful results wliich have attended his 
life work when viewed from the professional 
standpoint and the medical fraternity as well 
as the general public accord him high rank 
as a physician and surgeon. He was born 
in Clark county, Missouri, in July, 1842, 
a son of Robert and Elizabeth ( Rambo) 
Jenkins. The family is of Welsh lineage 
and the ancestry in America can be traced 
back to n.-nid Jcnkin.s, the great-great- 
grandfather i)f Dr. Jenkins, who became a 
resident of Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, 
in the year 1700. Through several genera- 
tions the family was connected with the iron 
works of Conestoga. Pennsylvania, being 



among the oldest representatives of that 
great inm industry of the Keystone state. 
The mill and plant at Conestoga were in 
possession of the family for one hundred 
and thirty-seven years, terminating in 

1837- 

Robert Jenkins, father of Dr. Jenkins, 
was born near the old ancestral home in 
Lancaster county and became an emigrant 
to the West, settling in Clark county, Mis- 
souri, in 1837. There he made his home for 
a long period, rearing his family in that 
county. His wife's ancestors came to the 
United States with a Swfedish colony about 
1665 and were colonial settlers of Chester 
county, Pennsylvania. Her grandfather, 
Ezekial Rambo, espoused the cause of lib- 
erty at the time of the Revolutionary War 
and did valiant service for the colonists. 
Mr. and Mrs. Jenkins were married in 
Pennsylvania, but the greater part of their 
married life was passed in Missouri. They 
were members of the Presbyterian church 
and were promoters of the substantial de- 
velo])ment and progress of their locality. 

Dr. Jenkins began his education as a 
student in the public schools of Clark 
coimtv, Missouri, afterward attended the 
liigli school nt .Alexandria and then entered 
the C^immercial College at St. Louis, sub- 
sequent to which time he entered upon prep- 
aration for the medical profession in San 
Francisco, California, in 18(^15. He was a 
student there in the Toland Aledical Col- 
lege, now the medical department of the 
I'niversitv of California and, returning to 
Missouri, he m:itriculated in the Missouri 
Medical College at St. Louis, from which 
he w;is graduated with the class of 1867. 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



473 



The honorary degree of Master of Arts was 
conferred upon him by Parsons College, at 
Fairfield, Iowa, in 1884. 

Dr. Jenkins located for practice in Keo- 
kuk, entering upon a successful career in 
this city. Realizing that in the professions 
as well as in the great industrial and com- 
mercial departments of acti\-itv, success and 
advancement are due to close application, 
thorough preparation and thorough under- 
standing of the work to be done, Dr. Jenkins 
has always remained an earnest and con- 
scientious student of the science of medi- 
cine, continually broadening his knowledge 
and also contributing to the sum total of 
information and experience which have 
made the labors of the profession partake 
almost of the nature of the marvelous. 
From the time of his graduation down to 
the present (1905) he has continued in the 
general practice of medicine and surgery in 
Keokuk and today stands at the head of 
the medical fraternity in his adopted city, 
having few peers and no superiors. A valu- 
able part of his services in behalf of human- 
ity has been in the line of medical education. 
In 1879 he was elected to fill the chair of 
diseases of children in the College of Physi- 
cians and Surgeons, occupying that position 
until 1882, when he was made professor of 
the iirincijjles and ]ir.ictice of medicine and 
clinical medicine in the same institution. ITe 
filled the latter chair until 1890, and was also 
president of the faculty during that period. 
In the year mentioned he assisted in the or- 
ganization of the Keokuk Medical College; 
was elected its ])resident and also chosen 
for the chair of principles and ])ractice of 
■fliagnosis. retainitig that connection with 



medicine, clinical medicine and physical 
the school until 1900, when the consolidation 
\\ itii the College of Physicians and Stu-gepns 
was consummated under the name <if the 
Keokuk Medical College. College of Physi- 
cians and Surgeons. In the new institution 
he was elected to fill the same positions, and 
is not only president and professor in the 
college, but also dean of the faculty. As- 
sociated with physicians and surgeons, 
whose abilities have gaine^l them much more 
than local reputation and \vhose work and 
writings ha\'e made them known to the pro- 
fession throughout the country. Dr. Jenk- 
ins has labored persistently and effectively 
for the development of the skill and the 
raising of its standards. In 1898 a dental 
department was established, of which he 
was also chosen president, and in 1901 a de- 
partment of pharmacy was founded, with 
which his official connection is the same. 
Both of tliese de]iartments ha\'e pn.ived to 
1)e successful adjuncts to the institution, and 
excellent work is being carried on therein. 
A capable faculty has been secured and the 
buildings assigned to its departments have 
been well equipped with every facility to ad- 
vance the useful rnul ])ractical work of the 
students. 

Dr. Jenkins was also Largely instru- 
mental in the founding of St. Joseph's Hos- 
])ital. at Keokuk, rnid from the organization 
has been chief of its medical staff. Keokuk 
has benefited b\- his jirofcssional labors 
aside from his work as private practitioner 
and educator, for be has given close study 
to its sanitary conditions, and lins served as 
president of its board of health. He be- 
came a member of the Keokuk Medical So- 



474 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



ciety in 1868, and was liondred with its pres- 
idency for two terms. He also belongs to 
the Lee County Medical Society ; has been a 
member of the State Medical Society since 
1869; has held various positions therein, and 
has been chairman of sections, which in- 
cludes preparation of papers read before the 
society. He was also elected its president 
in 1 89 1. In 1873 he became a member of 
of the American Medical Association ; has 
attended the majority of its sessions, and 
was elected to its house of delegates in 1901, 
while in 1903 the association conferred upon 
him the honor of election to its vice-presi- 
dency. His writings have been valued con- 
tributions to meclical literature. He is the 
author of a number of articles which have 
been published in the leading medical jour- 
nals of liis day. including the Medical and 
Surgical Reporter, of Philadelphia, the 
Journal of the American Medical Associa- 
tion, and the Transactions of the Iowa State 
Medical Society. In Keokuk, in addition to 
his general practice, he has been for many 
years first medical examiner for the North- 
western Mutual Life Insurance Company, of 
Milwaukee, for the New York Mutual Life, 
the New York Life, the Equitable, the Con- 
necticut Mutual, the Pennsylvania Mutual, 
the Mutual Benefit, the Aetna, of Hartford, 
the Pacific Mutual, and the Travelers' Life 
Insurance Companies, of Hartford, the Pre- 
ferred .\ccident Insurance Company, of 
New York, the Iowa State Traveling Men's 
Association, and otliers. 

Dr. Jenkins was married December 29, 
1870, to ]\Iiss Charlotte Elizabeth Van 
Wagenen, of Fulton, New York, a daughter 
of Captain Van Wagenen, a represen- 
tative of one of the old Holland fam- 



ilies of the Empire state, established 
along the Hudson in colonial days. 
They have four children, of whom the eldest 
is Marcia L., the wife of Ilazen L. Sawyer, 
of Keokuk ; Florence E. is the wife of Harry 
Bovden Blood, of Keokuk ; George Van 
Wagenen, who acquired his literary educa- 
tion in Parsons College, pursued the work 
of the sophomore year in Keokuk Medical 
College, and in 1898 he enlisted in Company 

A. Iowa Regiment, at Fairfield, Iowa, 

for service in the Spanish-American War. 
He was sergeant of his regiment, and died 
of typhoid fever contracted in camp at Jack- 
sonville, Florida. Katherine E., the young- 
est, is at home. Dr. and ]\Irs. Jenkins are 
members of the Presbyterian church, and 
their social prominence is equal to his pro- 
fessional standing. His professional duties 
and Iiis work in connection with the college, 
hov>'e\er, Iea\'e him little leisure time. He 
has carried his investigations far and wide 
into the realms of scientific knowledge, and 
has made researches along original lines, 
wherein experience and deductive thought 
have Ijrought him knowledge that the profes- 
sion recognizes as valuable to the great hu- 
manitarian work that claims the attention of 
the medical fraternity. 



ARTHUR HOSMER. 

.\ history of Lee county, and the City 
of Keokuk, Iowa, lacking the name of 
.\rtliur Hosmer, and gi\ing no space to the 
Hosmcr familv of that citv. would omit 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



475 



some of the most important factors in the 
development of the southeastern part of the 
state. For Mr. Hosmer is one of the most 
veneralile of the pioneers of the city who 
is stiil left to the new century, and others 
of the family were also engaged in the in- 
dustries anil enterprises of a very early day 
at this point. At that time they had won an 
honored standing, and have maintained a 
good name and a high character through 
the inter\-ening years. 

Arthur Hosmer was horn in Niagara 
county, X^ew York, February 5, 181 5, and 
was reared to manhood under the parental 
roof, securing a good education in the local 
schools, and assisting his father in the care 
of the family homestead. \Mien he l)_ecame 
a young man he taught school for a time, 
and then removed to Ohio, secured the ap- 
pointment of general manager in the im- 
provement of the locks on the Muskingum 
river, tlien being done under contract, by 
his uncle, S. R. Hosmer. Arthur Hosmer 
subsequently became a contractor on the 
public works o!i the Hocking river, and 
later still was owner of a large cotton mill 
at Zanesville. In 1857 ^^^ removed to Keo- 
kuk, and in the month of November of the 
year following secured a large interest as 
a stockholder in the old State Bank of Iowa. 
He was elected. Sejitemlier 15, 1S64, a di- 
rector to fill the place made vacant by the 
death of B. F. Moody. When the bank 
was changed to l)ecome the State National 
Bank of Keokuk, May 22. 1865, he was one 
of its original directors, and in January, 
1868, was chosen vice-president. As such 
he served until April 11, 1877, when on the 
death of James F. Cox he was called to the 



presidenc}- of this very important linancial 
institution, a position he retained until his 
retirement from active business, March 26, 
1889. 

During this li.>ng and honi.jrahle career 
Mr. Hosmer won the unreserved confidence 
of the business men with whom his lot was 
cast, and was trusted without cjuestion. 
Though he opened his heart to but few. and 
they his most intimate friends only, as a 
financier he was eminently forceful and suc- 
cessful. His personal characteristics were 
those of the scholar and the gentleman. He 
has always harl a pleasure in fine books and 
in broad reading, showing himself on many 
an occasion a thorough student and an apt 
critic. Refined in his tastes, charming in 
his manners and habits.^ all his life he has 
commanded the warm friendship and es- 
teem of the best elements of the community. 

Mr. Hosmer, in the spring of 1865, 
made investments outside of his banking 
interests, the most important lieing the pur- 
chase of the old sawmill plant which, under 
his management, became an extensive lum- 
ber and milling establishment, and was 
operated by Hosmer-Taber & Company with 
marked success. Later he retired from the 
firm, which then became Paul & Taber. and 
the business has descended through their 
successors to the ])rcsenl time. Mr. Hos- 
mer was afterward associated with T. F. 
Baldwin in the operation of a lumber yard. 
Mr. Baldwin retired from the business and 
Mr. Hosmer carried it on alone until he was 
able to lake in his sons. Lewis and .\rtliur. 
whom he put in charge until the closing of 
the establishment in 1881. Mr. Hosmer 
has. however, always regarded himself as 



476 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



a banker, and lias never neglected any de- 
tail of the work which he felt was his as a 
trusted leader and representative of the 
financial interests of the City of Keokuk. 
Mr. Hosmer died July ii, 1891. His 
father, Titus Hosmer, was a Revolutionary 
soldier, a native of Connecticut, though 
married in New York to Helen Brown, a 
daughter of the Empire state. 

Arthur Hosmer was married in Zanes- 
ville, Ohio, August 18, 1847, to Miss 
Adeline C. Love, a daughter of John S. and 
Mary (Vermillion) Love, of Fairfax 
county, Virginia. Her father was a mail 
contractor and the proprietor of a plantation 
on which he maintained many slaves. There 
Mrs. Hosmer was I orn August 19, 1823. 
Her family were of Scotch extraction, her 
grandfather coming from Scotland, where 
the family had long been known. Her 
father died when she was young, and her 
people removed to Ohio about 1831. 

Thomas Hosmer, the remote American 
-ancestor of the family, was a son of Stephen 
and Dorathy Hosmer, of Hawkhurst, 
County Kent. England, settled at what is 
now Cambridge, ALassachusetts, as early as 
1632, where three years later he was ad- 
mitted a freeman of the settlement. In 
June of the year following he removed to 
Hartford, Connecticut, where his name ap- 
pears as one of the original .settlers of that 
community. On the records it appears that 
sixty acres of land were assigned him Janu- 
ary 14. If 130- TTis first wife, Frances, died 
February 5, 1675, and he married for his 
second, Mrs. Katherine Wilton (a name 
now spelled \\Mlson), the widow of Lieu- 
tenant David Wilton, of North Hampshire, 



and formerly of Windsor. The records of 
the minister at Windsor at the time is as 
follows : "May 6, '79 : Goodman Osmer, of 
Hartford, and the widow Wilton, that had 
been wife to David Wilton, were to be mar- 
ried at Hartford." \lr. Hosmer died at 
Northampton, where he was buried. His 
tomb l>ears this inscription: 

"'ihomas Hosmer : Aged 83 years. He 
Died April 12, 1687." 



ALBERT LEE CONNABLE. 

Among the many prominent and suc- 
cessful men of southeastern Iowa none 
stood higher for business integrity and per- 
sonal honor than Albert L. Connable. He 
\\-as l>orn upon the old homestead of his 
father and grandfather in Bernardston, 
^Massachusetts, .\ugust 10, 181 1. His 
father was Ezra Connable, born in Ber- 
nardston, November 12, T779: and his 
mother before marriage was Abiga! Stevens, 
born in Warwick, Massachusetts, in 1784. 
It was an extensive family and the name as 
found in a book of the genealogy of the 
family is spelled in tliirty-eight different 
ways, from "Cannabell" to "Cunnable." 
The first immigrant of the family was John 
Cunnabell, who came from London, Eng- 
land, and located in Boston, Massachusetts, 
about 1674. Ensign John Cunnaliell was 
prominent in the War of the Revolution, 
and in 1779 was chairman of the committee 
of safety and correspondence, a highly im- 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



A77 



portant position in tlie Revolutionary War. 
Other memljers of the family became promi- 
nent in those stirring and patriotic tlays, 
and several of the name or Ijlood have 
gathered varied laurels in the later days of 
the republic. 

There is room for mention of only two 
of these: "George Cunnabell Howard," 
whose real name was George Howard Cun- 
nabell, was a poet of some pretentions and 
a prominent actor. He gained early popu- 
larity by the unique distinction of bringing 
out the first dramatizetl representation of 
Mrs. Stowe's entire work of "L'ncle Ttmi's 
Cabin." The work was dramatizetl by an- 
other but Cunnabell was the original "St. 
Clare," his wife the original "Topsy," and 
his daughter, Cordelia, the original "Eva." 

Mary -Vnn Dennison Connable, a sister 
of A. L. Connable, suljject of this sketch, 
was a woman of excellent qualities and 
proved herself a fitting companion for her 
gifted husband. Rev. Asbury Lowrey, D. D., 
of Ohio, an eminent minister of the Metho- 
dist Episcopal church in the eirly days, a 
member of the Cincinnati conference for 
forty years, author of "Positive Theology" 
and "Possibilities of Grace," and editor of 
a magazine. "Divine Life." in New \ oxV 
City, after extensive travel in F-urope and 
the Holy Land. 

Albert Lee Connable was a sturdy man 
of business. He left his eastern home in 
1831, before he had reached his majority, 
and spent nearly a year in traveling. In 
1832 he reached Eaton, Ohio, where he was 
afterwards joined by his three sisters, and 
engaged in the Inisiness of contracting and 



staging, remaining there until 1843. ''^ 
that year he removed to Fairfield, Jefferson 
county, Iowa, where he was married, Oc- 
tober 9, 1849, to Sarah Hurst Finney, 
daughter of Louis Hourth l'"iiniey and 
Annie (Hurst) Finney, luirn in Baltimore, 
Maryland, November 15, 1822. Her par- 
ents removed from Baltimore to Columbus, 
Ohio, thence to Indianapolis, Indiana, and 
b^'iirtield, Iowa. 

Mr. Connable removed, in 1848, to Keo- 
kuk, Lee county, Iowa, where he resided to 
the time of his death. At FairfieKl he was 
extensively engaged in farming and wool 
growing. In 1848-9 he was a contractor on 
the Keokuk and Des Moines Slack Water 
Navigation Canal to the amount of 
$350,000. a very large sum for a contract 
in tli;it early day in Iowa. He then en- 
gaged in a wholesale grocery and iron store 
for ten \ears. Then he engaged extensively 
in pork and beef packing, which was a 
prominent industiT in Keokuk at that time, 
which he continued for seven yeirs. Fn 
1873 he retired from active commercial pur- 
suits, giving his entire time to superintend- 
ing his numerous farms and Iniildings in 
and around Keokuk. Mr. Connable had 
great faith in real estate values. 

He was one of the incorporators of the 
Iowa State Insurance Company in 1856 and 
continued a director in that institution until 
his death: was a director in the Keokuk 
Savings liruik from the date of its organiza- 
tion. December 19, 18(^)7; also a director in 
the \\'ater Works Company and the Keokuk 
Water Works Company and the Keokuk 
Canning Company. Besides his possessions 



478 



BIOGRAPHICAL REI'IEIV 



in and around Keokuk he owned about 
12,000 acres of land in the northwestern 
part of Iowa. 

Mr. Connable served three years in Jef- 
ferson county and three years in Lee count)' 
as county supervisor and was a model of- 
ficial. Having an aversion to holding office, 
these were the only times he could ever be 
induced to serve the people in public place. 
He stood high in the communities where he 
resided and was at all times regarded as a 
man of the strictest integrity, an exemplary 
citizen and a careful and remarkably suc- 
cessful business man. He was a faithful 
and consistent member of the Unitarian 
church. 

Mrs. Connable died January 21, 1885. 
She was a good woman and a housewife in 
the true sense of the term. It has been 
saiil of her that "nothing ever tempted her 
from her home. She mingled little in so- 
ciety, but will long be remembered for her 
many acts of kindness which were always 
given in a quiet, unobtrusive way." 

Mr. Connable went peacefully to his last 
rest at his home in Keokuk, Apri 15, 1894, 
regretted and mourned by the entire com- 
munity. 

Ezra Connable, the father of the sub- 
ject of this sketch, had seven children : Caro- 
line Abby, Albert Lee, Charles Denison, 
Mary Ann Denison, Elizaljeth Frances, 
Augusta Sophronia and Samuel Charles. 

The children of .\lbert Lee Connable, 
three in number and all li\-ing are as fol- 
lows : Albert Ezra Connable, born October 
16, 1851, married Miss Rose Florida Frank- 
lin, of Keokuk, is an extensive farmer and 
resides at H.imilton, Illinois, opposite Keo- 



kuk. They ha\e three children, all living, 
as follows: Sadie, who married Ira W. 
Wills, wholesale grocer, Keokuk; Lucile, 
w ho married L. C. Judd and they reside in 
the City of Mexico, and a son, Franklin Con- 
nal)le, who ]i\es at Houston, Texas. Edwin 
Hurst Connable, born November 23, 1885; 
unmarried ; large farmer at Gregory's Land- 
ing, Clark county. ^lissouri. Howard Lee 
Connable, born January 14, 1858: married 
Miss Rose McKenzie. of Keokuk; successful 
clothing merchant in Keokuk for a number 
of years and a director in the Keokuk Sav- 
ings Bank, in which his father served in 
the same capacity from its organization. 
They have one little girl, ]\Iadaline. 

Mr. A. J. Mathias, the present cashier 
of the Keokuk Savings Bank, who had as 
close personal and business relations with 
Mr. Connable as anv man in Keokuk or 
elsewhere, was asked to give his estimate 
of him, and without hesitation he said to 
the writer : 

"One personal characteristic of Mr. Con- 
naljle was his modesty. He never was self- 
assertive, but had firmness to sustain any 
action he contemplated. He was very cour- 
teous in manner, at all times civil, rarely 
displaying temper or giving vent to vexation 
— was benignant. He was amiable and 
pleasant always ; was a good conversational- 
ist upon topics he understood; had a clear 
vision of the incidents of ever>'day life and 
calmly pursued the exeu tenor of his way. 
He was a good judge of human nature and 
rarely made mistakes in his estimate of men. 
He had a fine faculty in dealing with peo- 
ple. He loved justice and tempered his 
judgment with kindness and mercy." 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



479 



GEORGE DEXTER RAND. 

It \\as written of tlie renowned 
Atlienian. Aristides, tliat 

"To be and not to seem, is this man's 

maxim ; 
His mind reposes on its proper wisdom, 
And wants no other praise." 
These Hnes may be aptly apphed to tiie 
sul)ject of tiiis brief sketch. And we are 
told that "a distinguished character of an- 
tiquity was questioned as to what consti- 
tuted best means of national defense ; he 
answered. — men. The interrogatory was 
repeated again, and even the third time ; 
and he replied with emphasis, — men." In 
remembering the career of George D. Rand, 
these sayings came vividly to mind. "To 
be and not to seem" appeared to govern his 
actions by intuition. And if men. in the 
true sense of the term, constitute the best 
means of national defense, a country blessed 
with such sons may have no cause to doubt 
its high destiny. 

George De.xter Rand was born at 
Quincy, Illinois, February 9, 1838, coming 
from an old and prominent family, .\ttend- 
ing the home schools in boyhood, at the 
proper age and advancement he entered 
Asbury University, Greencastle. Indiana, 
from which he was graduated with becoming 
honors. This famous old university was 
the alma mater of many remarkal)le men, 
among them Oliver Perry Morton, the emi- 
nent war governor of Indiana and United 
States Senator, also a prominent candidate 
for nomination for the presidency in the 
national Republican convention in 1876, and 
others of almost equal fame. 



Closing his university labors, with com- 
mendable ambition for success in life, voung 
Rand entered into a business career and 
spent his earliest business life in Colorado, 
then reckoned in the very wild West. The 
Civil War approached, the bullets of the 
South were sullenly answered by the bullets 
of the North. Mr. Rand was appointed as- 
sistant paymaster in the volunteer navy, a 
position of high honor and trust for so young 
a man. In this capacity he served up to 
June 30, 1864, when he was appointed as- 
sistant paymaster in the regular navy, his 
commission being signed by .\braham Lin- 
coln, President, and Gideon Wells, secretary 
of the navy, a marked promotion and a dis- 
tinct endorsement from a high source of the 
able and honest manner in which he had kei)t 
his fonner trust. 

After the close of the Civil War be en- 
gaged in active business, and in 1880 moved 
to Keokuk, Iowa, being an active member of 
the extensive operators, the Carson-Rand 
Lumber Company. He managed the large 
business of the Keokuk Ijranch for several 
years, until the withdrawal of the corpo- 
ration from this field. 

Mr. Rand was not a politician. While 
firm and steadfast in his political convic- 
tions he envied not the place-hunter and 
sought no political preferment. His home 
and ofiRce were 'his abiding places. With a 
kindly recognition for rich and poor alike, 
he was genial and companionable. A few 
chosen friends, however, were more pleas- 
ing to his naturally reserved temperament 
than are indiscriminate mingling with the 
world, and yet he respected and loved the 
world and enjoyed its enjoyments. He had 



48o 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



a big heart — laughed with the world and 
wept with it. His silent charities and boun- 
tiful benevolences were countless, and yet 
they were mostly hidden rather than pa- 
raded. The poor of Keokuk lost a friend in- 
deed when suddenly the life of George D. 
Rand went out. And they quietly yet 
deeply mourned him. 

Not many years after his coming to 
Keokuk he was elected mayor of the city. 
He did not want the position, but his friends 
urged and he consented. His administration 
was wise, conservative and commendable. 
It was during his official career that Rand 
Park, named for him, and one of the most 
beautiful and attracti\e parks in any city the 
size of Keokuk, was completed. A great 
fight was made against it, but now the people 
see the wisdom of Mayor Rand's course and 
Rand Park is the pride of the city — a noble 
and undying monument to him and his ad- 
ministration. He was urged to accept a 
nomination for re-election but firmly de- 
clined. 

During the latter part of his life he had 
his office at the State Central Savings Bank, 
of which he was vice-president at the time of 
his death. He was also a director of the 
Keokuk National Bank and of the Iowa 
State Insurance Company, and interested in 
a number of other corporations and 
enterprises. 

For some time he had suffered fnim 
heart trouble but had continued, except at 
rare periods, to visit his office daily in at- 
tendance upon his large business interests. 
November 12, 1903, he returned from his 
office about the noon hour and suddenly ex- 
pired soon after being driven to his home. 



Mr. Rand was a member of the Military 
Order of the Loyal Legion of the United 
States and at a stated meeting of the Com- 
mandery of this organization held January 
12, 1904, at Des iMoines, Iowa, resolutions 
in memoriam were adopted from which the 
following paragraphs are taken : 

"Companion Rand lived a sunny life, 
was pleasant to e\'eryone from the lowest to 
the highest. It seemed he had no cloudy 
days. His life all sunshine. He died as he 
lived. 

"To the li\'ing one of the family and 
relati\'es we tender our deepest sympathy 
and love, and we shall always treasure in 
our hearts the memory of our departed com- 
panion." 

And the people of Keokuk, and of many- 
other points where he was known, joined in 
the above sentiment of treasuring in their 
hearts the memory of George D. Rand. 

The body was taken to St. Peter's 
Catholic church, and after a Requiem High 
Mass, wliicli was remarkable for its beauty 
and solemnity, his remains were removed to 
Greencastle, Indiana, where his body was 
interred with all the honors and love of a 
host of friends and relatives. 

While a student at the Asbury University 
he met IMiss Sara McGaughey, daughter of 
the Honorable Edward W. McGaughey, of 
Greencastle, Indiana, and was married to 
her, his first lo\-e, who survives him. She 
is an amiable, cultured woman, combining 
the sturdy, commendable qualities of our 
foremothers with the sensible acquirements 
of the twentieth centuiy antl is foremost in 
all good works in a quiet, unostentatious 
way. Mr. and Mrs. Rand were born com- 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



48 r 



paiiions as well as husband and wife. So 
inseparably were the twain linked that death 
(if her husband must have been a terrible 
blow. But of Spartan courage, strong and 
sensible and Christian, instead of pining and 
complaining in llic world's way. she took her 
heart-breaking grief to the Great White 
Throne, and the whisper came, "Peace, be 
still: He doeth all things well." 

Mrs. Rand continues to reside at the 
beautiful Rand home in Keokuk, and is 
active in pursuit of various .secular and re- 
ligious duties. She is a prominent mem- 
ber and president of the Keokuk -Woman's 
Club, in which her counsel is invariably 
sought on all questions. Scarcely a benevo- 
lent, or other enterprise, in which women 
are engaged, is inaugurated that Mrs. Rand 
is not consulted, because of her acknowl- 
edged intelligence, executive ability and wis- 
dom, her aptness in such matters, her gentle 
womanly courtesy, and the charitable tend- 
ency of her very nature. W^ithal, she is a 
model home woman, warmly and graciously 
attached to the cares and duties of her house- 
hold. 

Her father, Edward W. McGaughey. 
was the son of Arthur O. McGaughey and 
Sarah Bell. The father was born March 3. 
1788. and came from Johnstown, Pennsyl- 
vania, to the West when a young man, with 
a company of "Rangers." presumably a 
militia company, armed for protection. He 
married Sarah Bell, about 18 10, at Cory- 
don. Indiana. The family consisted of six 
children, William B., Edward W. (father 
of Mrs. Rand), Thomas D., Mary Jane, 
John and Harriet. Mary Jane McGaughey 
was the first white child born in Putnam 

29 



county, Indiana. Arthur McGaughey was 
the clerk of the first court held in that 
county. The first case taken to the supreme 
court was by him. He held the office of 
clerk twenty-three or twenty-four years, and 
lived I in a farm about three miles from 
Greencastle up to the time of his death. May 
2. 1857. His wife was a woman of strong 
character and keen intellect anti was well 
known for her independent and fearless 
frankness and energ}' in the discharge of her 
duties. Many incidents of interest might 
be recited of this good mother of the early 
days, illustrative of these marked traits of 
her character. She was a stanch member 
of the Baptist church. 

Edward W. McGaughe}-. father of Mrs. 
Rand, was born in Putnam county, Indiana, 
January 16, T817. He was principally self- 
educated, as he entered his father's office as 
deputy clerk at a very early age. He was 
married to Margaret Matlock. January 18. 
1838. at Greencastle and signed his own 
marriage license, ".Arthur McGaughey, 
clerk, i)er V.. W. McGaughey, deputy." His 
father opposed the marriage on account of 
his youth. In March, 1835, he was ad- 
mitted to practice law in Putnam county at 
the age of eighteen. In T842 he made his 
first race for office, that of state senator, and 
was elected. He resigned the following year 
to make his first race for congress, his op- 
ponent winning on the close margin of three 
majority. He was elected to the twenty- 
ninth congress, taking his .seat in 1845, ''"•^ 
also the thirty-first congress. He was de- 
feated at the next election. He was nomi- 
nated by President Taylor, governor of the 
territory of Minnesota, but he had been a 



482 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



strong opponent of the AIe?vican War and 
the senate failed to confirm his appointment. 
His rejection caused great excitement and 
indignation amcjng tliq* Whigs of Indiana. 
His triunipiis at tiie 1)ar. liis prominent 
record in pohtics and his firm, consistent 
character as a citizen, as shown in the news 
paper files of the day, would form a volume 
of interest and value, too varied and 
voluminous, howexer, to have even an out- 
line in this short sketch. He left his nati\e 
Indiana home to reside in California, where 
he died in San Francisco, August 6, 1852, 
of Panama fever. 



RICHARD BRYAN BURCHAM WOOD. 

The Wood family traces its origin to 
England. From that country came its an- 
cestors to the L'nited States. The records 
of the famil\- show that before the Revolu- 
tionarv Way three brothers of the name 
came over from (Ireat Britain and the war 
coming on took active part on the side of 
the patriots against the mother couwtry. 

The ancestors of Richard B. B. Wood 
came as far west as Kentucky and Indiana 
from Maryland. His grandfather. Seeley 
Wood, married M.ary Ann Hahn. of Bards- 
town, Kentucky, a daughter of a pioneer of 
that locality. They resided in southern In- 
diana. He was a soldier in the War of 181 2. 
his wooden canteen, copper kettle, flint-lock 
musket and other relics of that war remained 
long in the family. He was killed in his 



early manhood by the fall of a tree. He 
left a widow and two small children, Rich- 
ard, who died l>efore his majority, at Hunts- 
\ille. .\labama. and Christian Hahn W'ood, 
father of the subject of this sketch. The 
widow afterwards married Jacob Woodring, 
and fi\e boys and one girl were added to the 
family. 

Christian Hahn Wood was born January 
ig, 1819. and was married to Sarah 
Katharine Slack, November 2^. 1841. She. 
too. was from a pioneer family of the lo- 
cality. Her mother, Letitia Bush, was born 
also in Hardin countv. Kentucky in Indian 
times, which gave to Kentucky the name 
of "the dark bloody ground." She married 
Reuben Slack from another pioneer family. 

This couple was blessed with two sons and 
one daug'hter besides Mrs. Wood, mother 
of. the subject of this sketch, who was the 
youngest child. Soon after her birth the 
father died. The widow afterward married 

Ihomas Cofer, a ]iros])erous planter, her 
father being an extensi\e farmer and land- 
owner, besides possessing numerous slaves. 
B}- this marriage three daughters and two 
sons were added. Soon after the birth of 
the last of these children, Mr. C'ifer died. 
Christian H. and Sarah K. Wood had 
two children Ixirn to them. Richard B. B. 
\\'ood. whose birthday was December to. 
1842. and Mary Letitia Wood, born Sep- 
tember 5. 1843. both l)orn at Elizabethtown, 
Kentucky, the ccjunty seat of Hardin county. 
The father died Alarch 20, 1846, when only 
twenty-seven years and a few months old. 
The family at the time of his death con- 
tinued to reside at Elizabethtown. 

Rich'd B. B. Wood, as he signs his 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



483 



name, whose l)irth date is given aliove. was 
delicate in childhood, hnt attended school 
almost constantly dnring the ten months' 
school terms of each year. His first two 
teachers were women : the other two were 
men. including- George \\. Yeaman. after- 
wards a nicnilier of congress from a Ken- 
tucky district and later a minister to one of 
the South American states by appointment 
from President Lincoln, and Fayette Hewitt. 
who was afterwards a prominent officer on 
the stafif of (len. Albert Pike, of the Con- 
federate army, and after the close of the war 
State Auditor of Kentucky. Mr. \\'ood 
never attended a public school but once and 
that for a three months" term, taught by 
Mr. "N'eaman. When about thirteen years 
of age he rested from school duties by ad- 
vice of the family physician on account of 
a partial failure of his eyes by overstudw 
and with his mother and sister x'isited rela- 
tives in Iowa for a year, in 1856-7. notably 
the coldest winter ever experienced in the 
state. Returning to Kentucky in the latter 
year, he did not resume his studies, except 
what he could learn around a countr\- news- 
pa])er office, acting as carrier for the weekly 
]);iper of the town. "The Elizabethtown In- 
telligencer." the junior editor of the paper 
being George W. Parker, afterwards a 
])roniincnt lawyer and state senator of Il- 
linois and later president and general man- 
ager of the Cairo Short-Line Railroad, with 
residence aufl headquarters at St. Louis. 
where he now resides in affluent retirement. 
Mr. Wood took no steady employment on 
the paper, but did odd jobs and benefited 
Ijy the exchanges, but was even too small 
and delicate to aspire to the ])osition of 
"printer's de\il." 



On the 17th day of August, 1857, he 
went into the mercantile establishment of 
Cunningham & Matthis with an oral agree- 
ment to remain with the firm for a period 
of three years. When the three years had 
ended he resigned his position and in Sep- 
temlier, i860, entered St. Joseph College, 
Bardstown, Kentucky, as a student. Up 
to 1857 all his life his mother and maternal 
grandmother had resided together, both Ije- 
ing widows and the grandmother in affluent 
circumstances. Besides her town residence, 
she owned considerable landed property and 
a few family negroes. In that year the 
grandmother died, when his mother bought 
a h(^me for herself and children. It was 
a happy little trio, linked together by the 
tenderest cords of afifection. The ordeal was 
trying to separate from those who claim 
all bis lo\'c, and from whom he had ne\'cr 
before been separated for scarcely more than 
a (lay, e\'en though the distance was only 
about twenty-four miles. 

The time at college was spent studiously 
and profital)l\- and pleasantly, too, with a 
long visit from mother and sister in the 
meantime.. 

Bui war clouds gathered. Still they 
gathered thicker and faster. There were 
250 students in the college, with onlv three 
or foiu' from the Northern states, the re- 
mainder from Kentucky and the other 
Southern states and a scattering atteiidance 
from Mexico, Spain, Cuba and France. The 
])olitical kettle boiled and bubbled. In Janu- 
ary, 1 86 1, he about concluded to return 
home as it was inevitable that the college 
must susjiend and the tumult was so great 
and the times so unsettled that profitable 
study was impossible. There was a brass 



484 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



band serenade at tlie old college a short 
time before he left when the air resounded, 
amid the night vigils, with the inspiring 
strains of "Dixie" and "The Girl I left Be- 
hind Me," calculated to fire the student-heart 
and unfit him lor the accurate duties of the 
study hall an<l class room. So he left the 
old college of fond memories and hied him- 
self to his "Home, Sweet Home." 

He secured a position as deputy county 
clerk, which he filled for a time. In Sep- 
teml)er, 1861, when Gen. Lovell H. Rovis- 
seau"s Federal forces, the first to appear in 
that locality, entered on the north side of 
the town, without time for farewells or the 
slightest preparation Mr. Wood mounted a 
Kentucky mare and with three companions 
set his face toward the South. At W'ood- 
sonville. in Hart county, on the classic banks 
of old Green river, he remained with Gen. 
Simon Bolivar Buckner's Confederate army 
a short time with no other thought than that 
he would enlist in the Confederate army, as 
soon as he could determine the organization 
to which he preferred to attach himself. 

He has told with perceptible feeling of 
the trivial incident which led to his failure 
to enlist as a Confederate soldier. Reared 
in tenderness, petted by mother, grand- 
mothers and aunts, and even great-grand- 
mothers, he had never seen much of the 
rough side of life. His clothing was always 
carefully watched over by a patient and 
painstaking mother and he knew compar- 
atively nothing of the little vexations which 
sometimes confronted other. boys less hap- 
pily situated. He wore on his hurried trip 
to the South a pair of light-colored cassimere 
trousers, such as \\ere worn by the young 



men in the South, in the spring and fall. 
But somehow just above one of the knees of 
those trousers a rent appeared, torn about 
an inch two ways, leaving a flop and a gap, 
to his mind. like the mouth of a Kentucky 
cave. His pride revolted at the sight of this 
tatter. Discussing the matter \.o himself, he 
determined, life or no life, to steal his way 
home to replenish his wardrobe and his 
purse. With two friends the journey 
through the ])y-ways and underbrush was 
commenced. All manner of dreadful stories 
of outrages at Elizabethtown were heard 
along the road. Without meeting a Federal 
soldier they finally arrived at the outskirts 
of Elizabethtown and rode boldly into the 
little suburb of Claysville, where one of his 
companions lived, and there found ,his 
mother and sister too frightened to return 
to their home, away from which thev had 
I'cen during his absence. He then remem- 
bered that a few months before he had re- 
ceived a pleading letter of advice from an 
old bachelor uncle, brother of his mother. 
charging him under no circumstances to en- 
list in either army: to stay with his mother 
and sister; loyalty to them was loyalty to 
humanity and God; they had no other pro- 
tector. Here was a test and his mind was 
made u]) if it were possible for him to re- 
main. He and one of his companions con- 
cluded they would reconnoitre. They ven- 
tured into town to the outskirts, at least, 
and there they met a brother to his com- 
panion who wore the epaulettes of a Federal 
major. He knew they had been gone and 
where. He greeted them cordially, insist- 
ing on their going down in town with him 
and on their remaining at home, assuring 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



485 



them of safety. Tliese words, tlie almost 
forgotten letter from his uncle and the 
frightened and unsettled situation of his 
mother and sister, settled the matter, at least 
for the time or so long as he could live in 
peace on tlie northern side of the line 

The only ne\vs])apcr in the town had 
suspended on account of the war, the editor 
and pulilisher l)oth being in the Confederate 
army. The oftice was still there idle. A 
pa])er was started in the summer of 1862, 
under a partnership composed of the pos- 
sessor of the plrmt under a mortgage, a prac- 
tical printer and Mr. Wood, not yet twenty 
years old, who was to be the editor. It 
was a weekly paper and took up the name 
of the suspended paper, "The Elizabethtown 
Democrat." In a short time, however, mem- 
bers of the Xineteenth Illinois Regiment 
concluded the}- knew more about running a 
])aper than those conducting "The Demo- 
crat," so they moved' in and published "The 
Zouave Gazette." "The Democrat" politely 
and generously sus])ended publication. 

On October 7, 1862. he was married to 
Miss Lauretta Ellen Culley. daughter of 
Ju<lge James DeWitt Culley. an old citizen 
of Elizabethtown, the ceremony being per- 
formed by Rev. Samuel Williams, of the 
Presbyterian church. She was born at 
Elizabethtown, December 20. 1845'. Her 
birthday is in the same month as that of her 
husband and within one day of his, making 
him three years and one day her senior. 
When they were married he lacked from the 
date of their marriage to his next birthday 
anniversary of being twenty years okl. and 
she lacked the same time of being seventeen 
years of age. Her father was of Irish de- 



scent and was l>>rn in the State of Xew 
York. Her luoiher was Miss Lauretta Jane 
linckner before marriage, member of one 
of the oldest families in Kentucky. She died 
when Airs. Wood was onl\- a few months 
old. 

Alter his marriage he taught a term 
of three months in a country school near 
Elizabethtown and afterwards a five months' 
private school in Elizabethtown. He then 
entered mercantile pursuits and the spring 
of 1865 found him at Nashville. Tennessee, 
as first clerk in the leading restaurant of 
that city. The Donegana, remaining there 
three months and was there when Lee sur- 
rendered and when I^incoln was assassinated. 
While there he also did occasional news- 
l)a])er work and was correspondent of the 
Louisville Democrat. Returning to Eliza- 
bethtown he engaged in the confectionery 
and grocery business. He did not like it and 
sold out. • 

In 1866. with Capt. Erank 0. Moffitt, a 
nati\e of Brookx-ille. Indiana, a returned 
Confederate officer, under the style of Mof- 
liit \- Wood, they commenced the ])ublica- 
tion of "The Weekly Banner," being the 
first ])aper |:)rinted in the town after the War 
of the Rebellion. Captain Moffitt was 
elected police judge and soon retired when 
the lirni was changed to Wood & Culley, 
the junior member of the firm being Eree- 
land H. Culley, also a returned Confeder- 
ate, and a brother of Mrs. Wood, .-\fter a 
few months this firm sold out, .Mr. Culley 
purchasing .1 newspaper plant at Eayette, 
AIississip])i. Afterwards Mr. Wood en- 
gaged in further local newspaper work and 
as a newspaper correspondent for the Louis- 



486 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



ville Courier and other papers. At the time 
he received his hcense to practice law in 
1868 he was one of tlie editors and pub- 
Hshers of the "Kentucky Telegraph," at 
Elizabethtown, hut retired to open a law 
oiifice. having been elected city attorney for 
a term of one year, to which position he was 
re-elected for a second term. At the con- 
clusion of this term he was elected justice of 
the peace to fill an unexpired term and als-o 
appointed examiner for Hardin county, by 
the judge of the circuit court, continuing in 
the meantime his law practice. 

Before these terms expired he engagd 
as proofreader on the "Louis\-ille Dail_\' 
Evening Sun," a sprightly paper started 
after the war by Will S. Hays, the song- 
writer, and Charles D. Kirk, a returned Con- 
federate and noted war correspondent, under 
the nun dc plume of "Se De Kay." The 
latter had died and Ha_vs had retired before 
Mr. Wood went to "The Sun." In a few 
months he was promoted to chief editor, and 
the editor-in-chief resigning soon after, Mr. 
Woiid, wild liad the esteem and confidence 
of the management, was left in full charge 
of the editorial department. 

Tn 1S72 he returned to Elizabethtown. 
and shortly afterwards engaged in job 
printing and conducted a campaign daily, 
which did effective work as shown by the 
election returns. 

March J5, 1S73, his onh- sister, Mrs. 
Mary Letitia Ouiggins, died, leax'ing one 
small son, John Wood Ouiggins, still a 
resident of Kentucky. This sad happening 
in the family was the cause of his coming to 
Iowa, where the only sister of his mother 
resided. He always claims that he did not 



come west to gro\v uj) with the countrv, as 
Horace (ireeley advised, or to tetter his 
condition, which he didn't, but for the sake 
of the health and happiness of a mother 
much grieved o\er the loss of her only 
daughter. He still has the fondest memory 
of old Kentucky and her people. 

Bloomfield. Da\'is county, was the first 
point at which he located in Iowa, arriving 
there October 26, 1874, and ex])ected to re- 
sume the ])ractice of law there, but a news- 
])aper opening seemeil to present itself at 
Drakeville, in the same county, and there he 
made the \enture with a small weeklv paper. 
"Tlie Drakex'ille Sun." Mr. Wood said 
afterward that he got a great deal more fun 
than money out nf his first newspaper ven- 
ture in Iowa, and that "the Drakeville people 
expectefl a man to run a paper on wind and 
furnish the wiml himself." The tuwn was 
too small e\-en in the i)rogressi\e West fur 
a newspaper, and after a year's time, in 
which he sjient more money than he received 
from his business, he returned to Bloomfield. 
Here he entered the "Bloomfield Democrat " 
office, his name appearing as editor during 
the campaign in which the projirietor, T. O. 
Walker, was a candidate, heading the Dem- 
ocratic state ticket for secretary of state. 
Ca])l. J. .\. T. Hull, the present prominent 
Iowa congressman, was editor of the Bloom- 
field Rc])ul)lican, and also a candidate for 
secretar\- of state on the Republican ticket. 
During these davs. ton. Will \'an r.enthusen. 
who became i)riiminent as a managing editor 
both in Chicago and Xew York, and whose 
death occurred onlv a short time ago in the 
latter city, was the youtliful junior editor 
and i)ublisher nf the "Bloomfield Common- 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



487 



wealth. " and tlie acknowledged wag of the 
press gang. Afterwards, although not an 
Odd I'ellow. he was engaged as editorial 
writer on "The Odd Fellows' Banner." a 
thriving weekly printed at Bloomheld. which 
he accompanied in Novemher, i^yj. to Cedar 
l-Japids. Iowa, to which point the paper was 
renioxed, l)ul returned in about four weeks 
and again engaged on "The Democrat." The 
last of Xovemher. 1878. he answered per- 
sonalh' a telegram from "The Daily Consti- 
tution," (]f Keokuk, which paper was seek- 
ing a successor to Thomas W. Eichelberger. 
who had tendered his resignation There 
were several applicants on the ground and 
elsewhere, and after a few days' quiet con- 
test Mr. Woods was selected to succeed Mr. 
luchelberger as city editor and paragrapher. 
the j)aragrahing Ijeing the manufacture of 
funnygraphs for tlie daily, enough in the si.\ 
(lavs to make a long column or more for tlie 
weekly, a very popular feature at the time. 
He remained with "The Constitutiii)n" about 
a year. After a .short time, with compara- 
tively no capital, he started "The Daily 
I'Aening Democrat. " l>tU the ])ress contract- 
ing tt) do the printing broke down completely 
in a verv short time and the \enture had to 
be al)andoned for the lack of funds to re- 
■jilace the press, and in the face of the most 
pn imising prospects. 

I le worked on the various i)ai)ers in Keo- 
kuk, .sometimes regularly and at other times 
as a sub-writer and as a special correspond- 
ent. He was wi>rking on the "(iate City" as 
night editor when J. C. Thompson and P. R. 
Xelson concei\ed the idea of commencing 
the publication of "Tlie Daily Democrat." 
Mr. \\'oi)(l 1i:m1 under adxiscment the ac- 



ceiitance of a pr<i])osition to go as editor of 
a jiaper in southwestern Mis,souri. Mr. 
Wood jiad not heard of tlie proposed new 
Keokuk paper until Mr. Xelson came to 
"The (late City" office and offered him the 
i)osition as editor. After a little paiiev he 
acce])ted. Afterwards the ])aper was reor- 
ganized i)y a company of seven and corpora- 
tion papers were filed. Mr. Wood was presi- 
dent and editor under the new arrangement, 
and r. R. Xelson l)usiness manager. Mr. 
Wood so(;n resigned and sold his interest. 
.Soon the pajjer changed control and Mr. 
Wood was again engaged as editor and 
again resigned, and though importuned bv 
b'rank .Madden, who now had a contnilling 
interest, to return to the editorslii]) of the 
pa])er he irre\'ocably declined on the terms 
offered, and worked for "'Idle Constitution" 
and "The (iate Cit\' " in \arious editorial 
posititons, fref|uentl\' sul)1)ing for Sam M. 
(lark during his absences from the citv, and 
also acted at different times as editorial 
writer, managing editor and city editor of 
"The Constitution." 

\ short time after Warwick iV Ranson 
bought "The Democrat" Mr. Wood engaged 
as editorial writer and assisted Mr. Ranson 
in the local department. In the meantime he 
resigned the duties of eiHtorial writer, but 
continued on the local jKige. Me was hold- 
ing a place on "The Democrat" wiien that 
paper bought "The Constitution" and the 
two papers merged. He continued his duties 
with the merged i)apers until he had been 
with "Tlie Democrat" and the consolidated 
papers ei.ghteen months to a day. when he re- 
signed ti) commence the |)ublication of "The 
Keokuk Chief. " a weekly paper. This he 



488 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



afterwards .sold and it soon became an after- 
noon paper, "The Daily Chief." On this 
paper he was working when it was pur- 
chased and merged with "The Constitution- 
Democrat." Since then Mr. \\'o(id has done 
work on tiie different Keokuk papers at 
times, including "The Standard." and is 
now engaged in newspaper correspondence 
and feature story writing. One other Keo- 
kuk paper on which Mr. Wood did editorial 
work a numl^er of years ago was "The Laljor 
Tribune." 

In early days Mr. Wood was addicted to 
flirtations with the muse and has written 
some rather meritorius verses, some of 
which were published in George D. Pren- 
tice's okl Louisville Sunday Journal, and he 
is quite proud of the fact that he had per- 
sonally from the lips of Mr. Prentice, nestor 
of the Kentucky early day poets, most flat- 
tering commendation of his work. Those 
specially in the mind of Mr. Prentice were 
"Phantom" and "Pattering Rain," which 
had just aj)peare(l in "The Journal." He has 
also written other verses since coming to 
Iowa, among these a song, "The Wild Rose 
of Iowa," which has been set to music and 
published. It is a pretty, patriotic .song, a 
fitting tribute to Iowa, his adopted state. 

Mr. Wood was born in the same county 
which gave Abraham Lincoln birth and 
Mr. Lincoln's good stepmother, Mrs. John 
son, nee Bush, was a blood relative of his 
early Kentucky ancestors. 

There was a streak of Presbyterianism 
in some of the older members of the Wood 
family, though both of his great-grandmoth- 
ers and his father and mother were Metho- 
dists. Plis paternal great-grandmother was a 



Presbyterian and died in 1866, at the age of 
ninety-six. At the time of her death Mr. 
Wood's daughter, Ida Fitzhugh, was aljout 
six months old, making five gererations 
alive, a rare happening. Mrs. Wood's pa- 
ternal grandparents were early settlers and 
suffered the many trials of pioneer life, her 
grandmother being for some time a prisoner 
with warlike Indians, of which sad expe- 
rience she would never talk. These paternal 
grandparents were uncompromising Presby- 
terians, as was her father. Her maternal 
grandparents were Baptists, yet her uncles 
and her aunts departed from that faith, one 
uncle. Dr. Edmund P. Buckner, being a phy- 
sician and a prominent and popular Meth- 
odist divine in Kentucky. On account of his 
health he practically gave up preaching, con- 
fining himself to the practice of medicine. 
Some of her aunts were also Methodists. 
Mr. and Mrs. \\'ood are Presbyterians and 
so are several of their children. 

Mr. and Mrs. \\'ood have been the par- 
ents of ten children, as follows, six of whom 
are living: John Burchani Wood, bom in 
Kentucky in 1863, lived but a few moments 
after birth : Ida FitzHugh Wood, born in 
Kentucky, February 24. 1866, married Sam- 
uel Hendricks Selman. of Bloomfield, son 
of Dr. J. J. .Selman. prominent in state af- 
fairs in pioneer days, and a native of .\la- 
bama, died in 1804. They have one daugh- 
ter, Marie, in her fourteenth year, Mr. and 
]\Irs. Selman recently returned from a resi- 
dence of two years at Colorado Springs. 
Colorado, and now reside at Bloomfield, 
Towa; Christian LaRue Wood, born in Ken- 
tuckv, .\i)ril 1 1, t868, painter and cartoonist. 
of Houston, Texas; William Claude Wood, 



LEE COUNTY. IOWA. 



489 



born in Kentucky, ^[arch 7. 1870. a very 
I)riu;lu and proniisinig- hoy, died at Kookuk. 
Iowa. August 17, 1S86: Richard Wartield 
Wood. l)orn in Kentucky. August _m, 1S7J. 
married Frances Ciiiles. of Illinois, has two 
children, Lillian, aged three years and an 
infant son; Richard l-'rancis. resides in St. 
Louis. Missouri, and is district sales man- 
ager ior two large Eastern establishments. 

All the above Kentucky children were 
burn at Elizabethtown. 

John "S'oung Drown Wniul. burn July 
8, 1876. at L'loomtield. Iowa, is a member of 
the newspaper fraternity and doing news- 
paper work in Louisiana. He has written 
many popular dialect and other verses. He 
has also done some clever cartoon work and 
frequently pleases audiences as chalk-talker, 
illustrating his lectures w^th rapidly drawn 
pictures or caricatures : Howard Walker 
Wood, born at Bloomfield, Iowa. March j6. 
1878, did some newspaper work before his 
majority and developed early a marked lit- 
erary taste, but before he was graduated 
from the Keokuk high school, in 1898. he 
was offered a position w ith the Keokuk Sa\ - 
ings Bank, which he accepted with the un- 
derstanding that his work was to begin at 
the close of the school term. He was grad- 
uated with honor and was class poet. In his 
junior year he was entered in an oratorical 
contest for a gold medal, in which his two 
opponents were members of the senior class 
of the hi.gh school. He won the medal amid 
the plaudits of a very large audience of the 
representative citizens of Keokuk, ;tt the 
Keokuk opera house. He entered the bank 
after graduation and is now assistant teller 
in that institution ; Lawrence Cullev Wood, 



l)orn in Keokuk. Iowa, March 22. 1880, re- 
cently resigned a position with the Lnva 
State Insurance Company. Keokuk, and is 
now assistant in the office of his brother, 
Richard W. Wood, at St. Louis; Burcham 
DeWitt Wood, born in Keokuk, and died 
there; Lauretta Ellen Wood, born May 16, 
i<S84, in Ket)kuk. an<l died there November 
!_^, 1892, of diphtheria. She was the fam- 
ily pet and pride, and her death brought 
great grief to the household. 



COLONEL WILLIAM PATTERSON. 

It is told of Oliver Cromwell that he bad 
a mole on his face, and when sitting for a 
portrait the artist asked if it should be 
omitted from the picture, "raint me as I 
am !" vehemently re])lied the man. The in- 
dividuality of Col. William Patterson was of 
that noble caste that to paint him just as he 
was will give the truest and best delineation 
of his tine qualities. He was a courageous 
])ioneer and a grand old citizen. 

Colonel Patterson was a promineiu char- 
acter in Lee county, Iowa, .and a detailed 
biographv of his life would form an interest- 
ing history of the entire locality adjacent to 
his Iowa home. Coming from sturdy, hon- 
est pioneer stock, of large and commanding 
stature, he stood a strong, living monumeiu 
to the worth of honest manhood and life of 
sterling, active Christian (lualities. Lie was 
born in Wythe county. Virginia. March 9. 
i8o_'. was the son of Tose])h and Jane Pat- 



490 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



terson. ami is oi Scotch descent. When 
aliiiut five years old his father moved to Ken- 
tucky, settling in Adair county, where he re- 
ceived a common-school education, attending 
school during the winter months and assist- 
ing on the farm in the summer. He had a 
fondness for farming and in earlv manhood 
intended to make that his life vocation, but 
subsequent e\-ents caused him to abandon 
that determination, and he drifted into mer- 
cantile pursuits. 

On April 2. 1822, Colonel Patterson was 
married to Miss Eleanor Johnson, both being 
in their twentiefli years. Eleanor Johnson 
was 1)1 irn in .\nna .\rundel county, Mary- 
land, .\pril 21, 1802. and in early childhood 
moved with her parents to Adair county, 
Kentucky. Her father died soon thereafter, 
and the mother of Colonel Patterson died 
in his boyhood. Joseph Patterson, the 
father, married the mother (jf Eleanor John- 
son, and the two families became as one. 
Thus Colonel Patterson and his wife had 
known each other from childhood. In 1829 
lhe\- left Kentuck\- and settled in Atarinn 
county, Missouri, but after a residence there 
of three years remo\ed to Sangamon county. 
Illinois. In 1837 they moved to West Point, 
in Pee county. Iowa, which was then a por- 
tiiin of Missouri territory. Colonel Patter- 
son became tired of farming and in 1846 the 
family located in Keokuk. He opened a 
store in connection with furnishing Imats 
with pro\'isions. Keokuk' at that time had 
iiiil_\- from one hundred and fiftv to tw(_i hun- 
dred inhabitants, and the \-illage was built 
on the edge of the river. The hill- upon 
which the cit\' now stands was covered with 
timber and underbrush. 



.\fter engaging in the mercantile busi- 
ness in Keokuk Colonel Patterson, as an e.\- 
periment, began in a small way to pack pork. 
In 1848 he sold his store and engaged ex- 
clusively in the pork-packing business, which 
he followed for over thirty years. The firm 
for a considerable time was Patterson & 
Timberman, the latter dying in 1879. The 
packing operations grew to 20,000 hogs per 
annum. Colonel Patterson took an active 
part in shaping affairs in early Iowa days. 
He was elected a member of the first legis- 
lature of the Territory of Iowa, in 1838, and 
was influential in settling the disturbance 
aljout the boundarv line between Iowa and 
.Missouri, which was strenuously agitated at 
that time. He was commissioned a colonel 
of militia by Governor Lucas, of Iowa, and 
in 1839, during the border troubles, was 
ordered by Maj.-Gen. I. B. Brown to report 
with one com])an\- at b'armington. Iowa. 
The company was sent to the front. Init by 
the efforts of Colonel Patterson and some of 
his colleagues in the legislature, bloodshed 
was a\erted. the militia was dislinnded and 
soon the boundary line l)etween Iowa and 
Missouri was established by congress ac- 
cording to the claim of Iowa. Colonel Pat- 
ter.son served in nine regular or special ses- 
sions of the Iowa legislature, was three times 
ma\'or of Keokuk, and for se\en years post- 
master in that cit\'. lie was a member of 
the constitutional conxention. \vhich con- 
\ened .at Iowa Cit\- in 1857, and was for a 
long time president of the Des .Moines Im- 
pro\enient Company, bor over nine years 
he was president of the Keokuk National 
Rank, a position he held at the time of his 
death. 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



491 



Colonel Patterson was one nt tlic \n-\\\- 
cipal nidxers in tlie work uf bniklins;- tlic 
First Westminster Presbyterian clnnxli. <if 
Keoknlc, fine of the most substantial and 
commodious edifices in the city, built of 
stone, and subscribed liberally to the enter- 
prise. I'cir (i\er si.\t\- years he had been of 
the Presbyterian faith. In 1S37 he was 
elected an elder of the Old School Presby- 
terian church, at West Point, Iowa, and was 
the first Presbyterian elder onlained in the 
state, fie was a wise, aljle and conscientious 
(Thristian man, a recognized patriarch in the 
church. V\\-n\ yet mild, many interesting 
stories are tokl of iiis rebukes to members 
whom he thouoht had deviated from recti- 
tude, lie had no patience w ith hypocrisy or 
shams. 

When he located in Keokuk goods were 
receix'ed bv river only; that was the onh' 
means of ti'ansportation and these goods 
were distributed o\er the sparsely settled 
siu'rounding countiy by means of o.x teams 
and wagons. Colonel Patterson was, there- 
fore, identified with Keokuk from its earliest 
history, from t!ie incejition of its first infant 
industr)', up to the time when it hatl grown 
into a ])rosi)erous little city, and the greater 
part of the time intervening was sjjent by 
him in ceaseless acti\ity. 

In 1881 he had a limb broken, wliich 
gave him much trouble and forced him to 
retire from active business life. The use of 
crutches became necessary, and consequenth- 
he remained most of tlie time in the (|uict 
of his beautiful home, .\lmost uj) to the 
time of his death his general health was 
quite good, his mind clear, and in pleasant 
weather would ride down in town to greet 



his many friends. lie was still a notable 
figure at chinch, where at the Sunday serv- 
ices lie was helped by a faithful attendant 
to a large arm-chair near the pul])it. 

Sociall}- he was plea.sant and affable, one 
of the old-style gentlemen, intercounse with 
whom was calculated to make men and 
women ])roud of their ancestry, the early 
manhood and womanhood of the country. 
Reading was one of his chief i)leasurcs, and 
he kept a strict watcii on tlie cm-rent events 
of the countrv. lie was one of nature's 
noblemen, a large-brained, big-hearted, hon- 
est man. 

.\\)V\\ _', 187J, C'olonel Patterson and his 
wife celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of 
their wedding. This golden wedding was a 
notable e\ent in Keokuk. 

On A])ril 2, 18S0. just iifty-eight years 
from the date of her marriage to Colonel 
Patterson, Mrs. Patter.son, ripe with years 
and full of Christian hope, was called from 
earth an<l jiassed o\er the river to the eternal 
citv, lighted by the glory from the Ala.ster's 
throne. 

Satttrdav evening. March y, 1889, the 
eighty-seventh anniversary of his birth, an 
informal suqiri-se reception was tendered to 
Colonel Patterson at his home by a number 
of his friends and admirers for the purpose 
of gras])ing his hand and extending warm 
and heartfelt congratulations. .\s a matter of 
history in this connection it will be interest- 
ing to pev])etuate with his memory the fol- 
lowing list of those who were among the 
mnnber ])resent on this notable occasion, 
many of whom long since were numliered 
with the dead, while others still live to call 
to memory with reverence the last time they 



492 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



mingled in social communion with this great 
and good man. The list follows : Rev. and 
Mrs. John B. Worrall. Mr. and Mrs. W'il- 
liam Fnlton. Mr. and Mrs. Alex Collier, Dr. 
and Mrs. E. E. Fuller, Mr. and Mrs. W. J. 
Fulton, Mr. and ^Irs. D. A. Kerr, Colonel 
and Mrs. Samuel T. Marshall. Mr. and Mrs. 
David W. McElroy, Mr. and Mrs. W. A. 
Patterson, Mr. and ^Irs. Arthur H. }iIoody, 
Capt. and Mrs. A. H. Evans, Mr. and Mrs. 
D. Steele. Capt. and Airs. L. D. Sheppard. 
^h. and Mrs. M. L. Boyles. Dr. and Mrs. 
George F. Jenkins. Mr. and Mrs. Richard 
B. B. Wood. Col. and Mrs. A. Hosmer, Dr. 
and Mrs. H. A. Kinnaman. Mr. and Mrs. 
Ed Crossan. Mr. aufl Mrs. E. T. Albert, Mr. 
and Mrs. John Dickie, Mr. and ]\Irs. S. L. 
Hagny. Mrs. H. Brownell. Mrs. Alary A. 
Creel. Mrs. Henry Huiskamp. Mrs. Amanda 
Hughes. Mrs. Eliza Martin. Airs. Alartha 
McOuee. Airs. George B. Smythe. Airs. 
Alargaret Starkwater. Aliss Sallie Carver. 
Aliss Nannie P. Fulton. Miss M. Lizzie Ful- 
ton. Aliss Rachel Worrall. Miss Ellen J. 
Martin. Miss Eleanor J. Patterson. Miss 
Anna AI. Ringland. Miss Cora H. Pittman, 
Aliss Lucia Pittman. Judge James AI. Love, 
Judge Edward Johnstone. D. J. Ayres. A. 
J. Wilkinson. John Carver. G. \Y. Pittman. 
A. E. Johnstone. Col. H. B. Blood. L. H. 
Ayer. Dr. William Burkett. George H. Com- 
stock. John H. Freeman. Alaj. D. B. Hamill. 
Dr. E. B. Ringland. George D. Alafin. Adam 
Hagny. Robert D. Fulton. Joseph C, Patter- 
son, and G. R. Pettet. 

Only a few months after this memorable 
recei)tion. this kindly trilmte to Colonel 
Patter.son. he was called to his reward. He 
died peacefully at his home. October 23, 



1889. greatly lamented, not only in Keokuk, 
i)Ut \\here\-er Colonel Patterson was known. 
He li\ed to a ripe old age, far beyond the 
three score and ten. and his lengthened days 
were days of usefulness and peace. And the 
world is better that he lived. 

Colonel and Airs. Patterson were the 
parents of eleven children, three of whom 
died in infancy. Those who lived to man- 
hood and womanhood were the following: 
Mrs. AIar\- A. Creel, born in Kentucky; 
Airs. Eliza D. Alarshall. born in Kentucky; 
William Albert Patterson, born in Ken- 
tucky; Joseph C. Patterson, born in Ken- 
tuck\-; Sal)ert T. Patterson, born in A'lis- 
souri ; Airs. Alargaret Starkwather, born 
in Illinois; Aliss Eleanor Patterson, born in 
Iowa ; Thomas B. Patterson, born in Iowa. 

Of these only two survive, Airs. Stark- 
wather. who resides at the old home place, 
and Sabert T. I'atterson, unmarried, and 
also a resident of Keokuk. 



CHRISTIAN SMITH. 



Christian Smith, one of the early settlers 
;md highh' respected citizens of Primrose, 
Lee county, Iowa, was born July i8, 1843. 
at Braunschveid, Germany, and emigrated to 
.\merica in 1834, landing at New Orleans 
and coming up the Alississippi river to the 
City of Keokuk, whence he proceeded to 
Harrison township, and with his mother and 
stepfather located on a farin. His father 
died in Germanvi and the mother afterward 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



493 



remarried, comin.^' to .America with lier 
second huslxuul. and licr (iwii deatli occurred 
only seven years ago, in the seventx'-secuiul 
year of her age. 

Mr. Smitli receixed a good education in 
tiie pubhc schools of Primrose, working on 
the home farm during vacations, and when 
he was eighteen years of age he began tn 
acquire the hlacksniithing trade, which he 
has followed ever since. lie learned tlu- 
trade in l-'r.anklin tcnvnship. Lee county, and 
then rcniuved to h'armington. Iowa, where 
he continued to pursue his new calling for 
a period of fixe years with great success; 
Imt at the end of that time he returned to 
the scenes of his boyhood, establishing a 
blacksmith shop in Primrose, where he has 
carried on the work of his trade continuously 
from that day to the present time. Tn ad- 
dition lie has to some extent engaged in the 
wagnnmaking business, and also conducts a 
general repair sho]). He enjoys the patron- 
age of a very large territory, and by reason 
of Ins skill, his carefid and conscientious at- 
leniion to his work in all its details, and the 
un\\;i\ering integritv and lionesty of all his 
])usiness tran.sactions and personal relations 
he has reaped a very full and gratifying 
measure of success. His shop is the oidy 
one in the \-illage, and is fully e(|nippetl with 
the latest ajjparatus for doing thorough and 
linished work, for it is one of Mr. Smith's 
fa\orite maxims, that "what is worth doing 
is worth doing well." He has purchased a 
tract of three and a half ;icres of land for 
residence purposes, and on this has erected a 
fine two-story dwelling adjoining the sho]i, 
this being one of the best residences in the 
city, both for convenience and external ap- 



pearajice. .\lthough Mr. Smith takes a deep 
interest in public affairs, and is a loy;d mem- 
!ier of the Democratic party, he has never 
cared to hold public ofifice; on the other hand 
he has always been de\oted to the cause of 
education ,tnd the public schools, and for 
this reason he has Ijeen elected and re-elected 
by his friends to the office of school director 
year after year for a long period, and has 
invariably discharged the duties of diat im- 
])ortant position to his own credit and the 
benefit of those who depend \\\M.m his judg- 
ment for its proper conduct. In fact he is 
a constant advocate of all that tends to ad- 
vance the interests of the community in 
which his career is lieing passed, and is a 
faithful member and supporter 'of the Ger- 
man Pntheran churcli. 

On December 15. 1868. Mr. Smith was 
united in marriage to Miss Henrietta Wendt. 
who was b(.>rn in ( iermanv and came to the 
L'nited States in the same vessel in which 
.Mr. Smith made the voyage, locating with 
her ])arents in llarri.son township. Lee 
county, her father being a farmer. Iloth her 
parents are now deceased, and are l)uried in 
Harrison township. To Mr. and Mrs. Smith 
ha\e been born two sons and five daughters. 
as follows: Ida. who is the wife of Prof. 
L. .\ntrim. of .Mount Pleasant, owner of 
.Mount Pleasant .\cademy. and a professor 
in the institution, has two children. Etta May 
.and Florence: .\melia. who is the wife of 
iMlward Jack, a railroad man, of Farming- 
ton. Towa ; Sophia, who resides with her 
]),arents: William, an employe of the tele- 
phone company at Primrose; Charles, who 
is in the electric light business at Centerville. 
Towa ; Emma and Elda, who reside with 



494 



BIOGRAPHICAL REl'IEW 



their ])arents. All tlie children were horn 
at Primrose, and there received excellent 
educational advantages, while Charles and 
Emma also attended Mount Pleasant 
academy. 



J. Q. HURLEY. 

J. G. Hurley, one of the old and vener- 
able residents of Montrose township, Lee 
county, whose years bvit emphasize the re- 
gard his intellectual acquirements and moral 
standing comniand. has had a long and use- 
ful career, in which his best faculties and 
strongest powers ha\e been freelv placed at 
the service of the public. As a man of thor- 
ough education and deep training he has 
ever regarded his best as a gift to l)e used 
for the public benefit, and felt that the high- 
est privilege of knowledge is to communicate 
it in turn to darkened minds. It is the glory 
of light to give light, and the right of the 
intellectual to stir up in ignorant minds a 
thirst for knowledge. So Mr. Hurley has 
always lived and worked. Born and bred 
a farmer, he has been a teacher of marked 
ability and wide inHuence; and while he has 
cultivated the soil he has also culti\ated the 
youthful mind, and commanded the respect 
and confidence of every element in the com 
munily at all interested in the improxement 
of the youtli. 

Mr. Hurley came to Montrose township. 
.\pril 2. r88j. from Pike county, Illinois. 
where he had li\ed since 1846. He was 
born near Knox\ille. Tennessee. ^lay 3. 



183 1, and early removed to Illinois. In the 
spring of 1870 he went to California, and 
made an extensive visit with a brother who 
had already settled in that country. For 
some two years on his return he was en- 
gaged in farming and in teaching in Bureau 
county, Illinois, after which he returned to 
Pike county, wdiere he continued teaching. 
He has taught extensively, but was reared 
a farmer, and has farmed in Lee county since 
1882. 

Mr. Hurley has taught in Montrose, and 
at one time was principal of the Montro.se 
village schools. He has also taught several 
terms in the district schools of that town- 
ship. 

Mr. Hurley's educational acquirements 
are of a very high character, and his stand- 
ing among teachers is fine. He began his 
studying in the ])ul)lic school, and completed 
his schooling in Asbury University at Green- 
castle. Indiana. He has taught in town and 
countrv work, and has evervwhere acquitted 
himself creditably. From S. M. Etter he 
holds a state certificate, issued September i, 
1877. at Springfield, Illinois. He has done 
good work in county institutes in Illinois. 
A recommendation issued to him from the 
superintendent of Pike county schools, in 
which it is stated that "Sir. Hurley is 
though to be the best mathematician in the 
state. Prof. Hippen. at that time the 
teacher of Latin and Greek, declares Mr. 
Hurley to be a better Engli.sh scholar than 
himself. .Mr. Hurley takes special delight in 
mathematics and English grammar. 

Mr. Hurley is a son of Jonathan Hurley, 
who was born in Delaware in 1782, and was 
reared bv Nathaniel Carolton. He lived to 



LEE COUNTY, IOWA. 



495 



1)e ninety-six years old, dying April 25. 
1878. The nidtiier of Mr. Hurley was Re- 
becca Hicks, distantly related to Governor 
Hicks, of Marjdantl. She was born in 
Maryland, June 26. 1788, and died in Pike 
county, Illinois, December 14, i85[. Her 
people owned slaves in Xorth Carolina at an 
early day, and her paternal grandfather was 
widely noted for his broad and liberal schol- 
arship. Jonathan Hurley was drafted two 
or three times during the W ar of 1812, but 
escaped the perils of war. 

J. G. Hurley was married July 31. 1862. 
in Mdntrose township, Lee county, to Miss 
Lvdia J. Bovd. who was born in Ohio, and 
came to this state when she was but twelve 
vears old. At the present writing she is 
still li\ing. To her marriage with Mr. Hur- 
ley were torn five children : W. C. ; Frank 
A. ; Lulu B. ; Ruth M., who is now a teacher 
in the Montrose high school, and \ettie (i. 
Three children are dead : J. (i., who died at 
the age of eight years, in 1871 ; J. B., who 
died in 1866, was eleven months of age, and 
Katie, who died in 1883, was but fifteen 
months old. Xone of the children are mar- 
ried. 

At one time Mr. Hiudey was a member 
of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows 
as well as the Independent Ortler of GckkI 
Templars, but is not now connected with 
either society. He is an active member of 
the Methodist church, and is devoted to its 
welfare. In ])olitics Mr. Hurley is a Bryan 
Democrat, though he was a Republican until 
the passing of the Credit Strengthening .\ct 
of 1869. In Bureau county, Illinois, he was 
elected tax collector on the People's ticket. 
In 1896 he was appointed township commis- 
sioner of Montrose bv the Democrats. 



.Mr. 1 lurley owns a splendid estate of 120 
acres, on which he is engaged in both gen- 
eral farming and truck and fruit culture. He 
has many acres devoted to strawberries, po- 
tatoes and tomatoes. Of the last he had over 
seven hundred bushels the last summer. He 
is an intellectual, thoughtful and successful 
farmer. ;nid has met with a large success. 
.\hvays a hard-working and industrious 
man. he is reaping the rich reward that at- 
tends industry, integritv and maidiness. 



HARRISON F. MILLER. 

One of the early .settlers and well-known 
citizens of Harrison townsiiip. Lee county. 
Iowa, where he now resides on his farm of 
120 acres, in section 18, is Harrison F, Mil- 
ler, who was born on November 3, 1830, in 
Hardy county, We.st A'irginia, and there he 
received his education in the common schools 
and learned the work of agriculture by as- 
sisting on his father's farm. I1-, .\pril, 1856. 
however, he removed to Muskingum county, 
Ohio, where for ten years he engaged in 
farming, and at the end of that i)eriod he 
again removed westward, locating in Clark 
county, Illinois. After farming at that place 
for six years, during which he achieved con- 
sideral)le success, he came to Iowa in 1871. 
renting land for a time in Harrison town- 
shi]). and later he purcha.sed a fine and pro- 
ductive farm of 120 acres. On this farm 
lie has made nearly all the improvements and 
established a comfortable and pleasant home 
for himself and family, and here he has re- 



496 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



sided continuousl)- ever .since, engaging in 
general farming and to some extent in 
stockraising, with signal success. 

Mr. Miller is a member of a family com- 
prising seven children, of whom only three 
are now living, and is the son of Corbin and 
Amanda Frank Miller, both of whom were 
natives of West Virginia, and resided in that 
state until removing to Ohio in 1856, whence 
he later came to Iowa and farmed for a short 
time, or until his death, which occurred in 
the eighty-second year of his age on the farm 
now occupied by his son, our subject, and 
he is here buried, while his wife, whose death 
preceded his own l)y several years, is buried 
in Illinois. 

In 1855 Mr. Miller was united in mar- 
riage with Miss Catherine Miller, daughter 
of Aquilla B. and Rebecca (Fravel) ^Miller, 
who were born in West \^irginia and re- 
mi.i\'ed aljout the year 1836 to Clark county. 
Illinois, where the father continued his oc- 
cupation of farming, and where they both 
passed the remainder of their lives. To 
Mr. and Mrs. Miller have been bom two 
children, a son and a daughter. Florence, 
the elder, who was born in West Virginia, 
is now a resident of Missouri, and the wife 
of Mills Coleman, a very prosperous and 
enterprising citizen of that state. Corbin 
B.. who is a farmer by occupation, owns a 
farm of too acres in Harrison township, on 
which he resides, and is very successful in 
the conduct of his affairs. He married Miss 
Clara (irimni and to them ha\'e been born 
three daughters and one son, all natives of 
Harrison township. These are Bertha. 
Ethel, Stella and Elmer, the latter of whom 
died at the age of five years. 



.\lthough Mr. Miller's father was a 
member of the Democratic party, he is him- 
self a staunch Republican, believing thor- 
oughly in the applicability of that party's 
])rinciples to modern conditions, and while 
he has never sought public of^ce for him- 
self, he has rendered valuable service to the 
local branch of his party, always evincing a 
strong interest in public affairs, and being a 
consistent ad\'ocate of all worthy movements 
ha\ing for their object the promotion of 
the community's intere.sts. As a farmer he 
has been highly successful by reason of his 
business ability and his attitude of readiness 
toward opportunities, coupled with a sane, 
sound judgment and keen foresight that 
ha\e enal)led him to cany his ventures to 
the desired issue: and as a man and a citi- 
zen he enjoys the general respect because 
of his honorable and upright methods in all 
matters in which he comes into contact with 
his fellowmen. 



ISAIAH McKEEHAN. 



One of the early settlers of Lee county 
and now among the most influential and 
su1)stantial citizens of Harrison township. 
is Isaiah McKeehan. who has been an in- 
teresting witness of the development of this 
section of the state from a condition approxi- 
mating that of a wilderness and has borne 
his part in advancing the material and moral 
interests of the community. He owns a 
farm of eighty acres besides another tract 



LEE COUNTY, lOiV.I. 



497 



of 1 20 acres. Mr. McKeehan was born in 
tlic City of Lafayette, Indiana, on April 10. 
1838, and when onl\- two years of age re- 
moved with his parents to Iowa, making the 
entire journe)' by wagon and ox teams. The 
father purchased land in Harrison township, 
making for himself and family a hcjme in 
that new and wild region, and here our sub- 
ject received his education and assisted in 
the hard work of the home farm. 

Mr. McKeehan is the son of Benjamin 
and Minnie (Hawk) McKeehan. The father 
was bom in Kentucky, and came to Indi- 
^ ana when a young man. He engaged in 
'o farming all his life, and when he came to 
Harri.son township purchased eighty acres 
of land which he cultisated until his death, 
adding to the original purchase, however, 
•antil he owned 240 acres, all of which he 
placed under cultivation. His was a pro- 
gressive disposition, and he a\-ailed himself 
of all modern improvements in the accom- 
plishment of his work. His death occurred 
in 1891, when he had attained the age of 
eighty-five years! In politics he was a mein- 
lier of the Democracy, and was elected to 
various township ofifices. The mother's de- 
mise occurred some years before that of her 
husband. Both are buried in Harrison town- 
ship. They were the parents of nine chil- 
dren, only two of whom are now living, the 
other being Mrs. GeOrge Smith, of I'ort 
Madison. 

Our subject remained a member of his 
father's family, assisting in the work of 
the farm, until his twenty-fifth year, when 
he purchased his present farm in section 16. 
The land was at that time wild and un- 
reclaimed, but has been transformed by Mr. 



.McKeeh.'ui's energy and industry into a 
mar\el of fertility and productiveness, ex- 
cellent buildings ha\e been erected, and mod- 
ern improvements now take the place of the 
crude implements and equipment known to 
agriculture when the country was new. 
Here the proprietor conducts general farm- 
ing a^ul stockraising. and has met with nuich 
success to reward his industry and exercise 
of keen foresight and discernment. 

In 1861 Mr. McKeehan was united in 
marriage to Miss Sarah J. Meyers, who was 
born in Ohio and came to Iowa with her 
parents in 1852. locating at Primrose, Har- 
rison township, Lee county. Her father was 
Fred Meyers, who was a blacksmith and 
followed his trade at Primrose imtil his 
death, which occurred when he was eighty- 
four years of age. The mother died at the 
age of eighty years. To Mr. and Mrs. Mc- 
Keehan have been born se\-en children, as 
follow s : John, residing on a farm of eighty 
acres in Harrison township, married Miss 
Rebecca Alexander and has three children. 
Bertha, Ray, IMary ; Laura, now deceased, 
was the wife of Frank Saunders, and is sur- 
\i\ed by three children, Bert, Glenn, May; 
Ida. wife of William Hanson, a machinist 
and pattern maker in the Santa Ve Railroad 
sliops at Fort Madison; Nellie, who is at 
home with her parents; James, residing on 
the former home of his grandfather, mar- 
ried Miss Nannie Methews, and has one 
chilli. Viola; Rose resides in Montana, and 
Clyda, the youngest of the family, is also 
making her home in Montana. The children 
were all boin and educated in Harrison 
township. 

Mr. McKeehan has been until recently 



498 



BIOGRAPHICAL REJ'IEW 



a member of the Democratic party, but has 
transferred liis support to the People's party. 
He takes a deep interest in matters and ques- 
tions of public policy, but de\otes his time 
exclusively to business pursuits, and does 
not aspire to pulilic office. Ijeing content to 
cast his vote in favor of honest government. 



FRANK OERTEL. 



Frank Oertel. who was born in Keokuk. 
Iowa. November 28. 1862, has taken a posi- 
tion in the business world of southeastern 
Iowa, which can only be secured 1)y genuine 
worth and real manhood. The confidence 
of the community is not easily won, nor is 
it long retained Ijy sham and pretense. In- 
tegrity of the life must go with the appear- 
ance of honesty, or the fraud is soon ex- 
posed. A man whose "word is as good as 
liis bond." and in wliose "hands mav be left 
uncounted gold," is a treasure in any com- 
munity, and when discovered and identified 
beyond dispute, is trusted and honored 
without measure. 

'Hie man whose name introduces this 
article is widely known as that kind of a 
man. wliose word may be trusted and state- 
ment accepted in any case. His reputation 
is high, and what he says is regarded as set- 
tling any dispute. Simple and moflest in 
his ways, unpretending in his disposition, 
and thoroughly reliable and trustworthy in 
his character, he is regarded as one of the 
leading business men in the City of Keo- 



kuk, and as he is still in the prime of life, 
what he has accomplished is but the fore- 
runner of what he will do if health and 
strength are spared him. 

Frank Oertel is a son of John Oertel, 
who was Ijorn in (jeriuany. wliere lie mar- 
ried Miss Elizabeth Center. They came to 
this country at an early day, and established 
a milk dairy and general farm near Keokuk 
years ago. He died August 30, 1890, and 
his widow, who has attained the age of 
seventy-eight years, is still living. The sub- 
ject of this sketch attended the local schools 
where he secured his education, and when 
quite young assisted his father in his farm- 
ing operations. In company with his 
l^rothers he carried on the homestead farm 
for two years after his father's death ; and 
then in company with them was engaged 
from 1882 to 1890 in a very extensive meat 
business. Tiie last-named year he bought 
out the interest of his brothers in the busi- 
ness, and from that date has conducted it 
alone. Mr. Oertel has met with marked suc- 
cess, and employs advanced methods in his 
work. P'or twenty-two years he has now 
been in business, and in that time has greatly 
prospered, not only estaljlishing a large and 
growing industrial enterprise, but winning 
for himself an en\iable name and standing 
where he has been so long and favorably 
known. He buys live stock, which he kills 
and dresses himself, so that his patrons are 
always sure of receiving the best the market 
affords, good sound meats, and sold at a 
reasonal)]e jirice. Mr. Oertel also retails ice, 
and in this line has secured a good patronage 
for himself. Flis home is at No. 1724 John- 
son street, where his father lived before him. 



I.EE COUNTY, I Oil. I. 



499 



Mr. Oertel and Miss Emily Hessl)acker 
were married in March, 1885. Tiieir only 
cliild. I-'rank. who was born December 9. 
1S87, has been bUnd from his birtli. For 
tlie past nine years lie has been in the slate 
school for the lilind at X'inton, where he is 
still engaged in studying and preparing him- 
self in music and piano tuning to make his 
own way in the world, if fate should so 
demand. 

Mr. Oertel has had three brothers and 
one sister. — John. Fred. William and Liz- 
zie, who is the wife of Sigmund Hamilton, 
and lives in Illinois. Politically he is a Re- 
publican. In business matters Mr. Oertel 
has been greatly prospered. He owns sixty 
feet front at Xo. 1328 Alain street, where 
his business establishment is located, with 
fi>ur large rooms for business operations 
and slaughter house, stable and ice house in 
the rear, which he built in 1894. He does 
a very considerable business in wholesaling 
to smaller dealers, and his retail store was 
not opened for se\'eral years after he be- 
gan operations. 

Mr. Oertel is a daughter of Cornelius 
Hessbacher, who was torn in Switzerland, 
but who came to the United States in early 
life, and locating in Cincinnati, Ohio, where 
•he married his third wife. Rosina Stroble. 
a native of Baden. Germany, and removed 
to Keokuk over .fifty years ago. He was 
a machinist, and for many years before his 
death in that cit\-, in iSr)^, he was an in- 
valid. Before her death she married for a 
second time, becoming the wife of John 
Marks. She passed to her final rest June 
30, 1900. and Mr. Marks, .\])ril 16, 1892. 
Mrs. Oertel has one sister, Matilda, the wife 



)f Ivlwaid Etle, of Keokuk. She is a con- 
(ril)utor 1(1 the (ierman Lutheran church, in 
which her son was christened, though l)orn 
a Cathcilic. She takes much interest in the 
business affairs of the family, and is book- 
keei)er at the store. I'or six years she and 
her husband have worked \ery close to- 
gether, and they have built a business that 
rests on a very solid foundation, of which 
they may be justlv proud. 



FRANK E. STANNUS. 

b'rank E. Stannus, who was born in Keo- 
kuk. Lnva. January 24. 1858, a son of John 
!^tannus, worthily sustains a name to which 
his father gave standing for many years in 
the earlier history of southeastern Iowa. 
The father was at one time a wholesale 
dealer in groceries, and was also largely en- 
gaged in pork packing. During the Civil 
War he held a position in the custom house 
and had charge of all the ammunition pass- 
ing through this port for the government. 
During the palmy [)eriod of Keokuk he was 
one of the leading men of the place, and at 
one time became veiy wealthy. The for- 
tunes of the stock market, however, proved 
adverse to him. as tbev did to others, and he 
lost, it is said, as much as $iOO.OOO. In 
1876 he went to the Black Hills. lio])ing to 
recover his wasted resources in lumbering 
and mining but with small results. During 
the war be made up a solunteer S(|uad and 
serxed in the "battle of .\thens." In 



;oo 



BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 



politics he was a Republican, and was ap- 
pointed surveyor of customs by President 
Lincoln. This office was lately held by 
Sam Clark, but has now been removed to 
St. Louis. 

John Stannus was born in Wheeling. 
\\'est Virginia, and was the son of par- 
ents who came from Ireland when theA 
were young. He came to Keokuk in 1843. 
and became a carpenter and contractor, and 
as he was energetic and aggressive he 
pushed business, making money rapidly. 
He was a sportsman of much enthusiasm, 
a rifle shot of marked excellence and bore 
the nicknames of "Audubon" and "Iron- 
clad." He shot game, but would never sell 
it, preferring to give it to his friends, and 
had contempt for those who sold game, call- 
ing them "pot-hunters." On one occasion 
he crossed the IVIississippi for a wager of 
fifty dollars, that he would not get his feet 
wet. The river was very low, and he actu- 
ally did cross as he wagered he would at 
Price's creek. He died at Central City, in 
the Black Hills, in 1895, and his remains 
now rest in Oakland cemeter}'. His wife, 
the nTother of Frank E. Stannus, was Mar- 
tha Hamilton, who was born and reared in 
Keokuk. 

The subject of this article, Frank E. 
Stannus, remained at Keokuk under the pa- 
rental roof, where he attended the public 
schools, and studied out a career for him- 
self, until he reached the age of fifteen 
years, when he started out in a wholesale 
and retail business in which he was en- 
gaged for twenty-two years. In October. 
1873, he began a retail oil business, and in 



1895 gave it up. after having reaped verj' 
substantial results. After several years he 
estaljlished "The Economy Rug Works," in 
1900; and four years later purchased a 
similar plant at Ouincy. Illinois. His in- 
vestments in real estate are now three dwel- 
lings and a business house on Main street. 

Mr. Stannus takes much interest in fra- 
ternal matters, and is a trustee in Keokuk 
Lodge, No. 13, Independent Order of Odd 
Fellows, and for twelve years has been a 
member of the building committee of the 
Modern W^oodmen of America. For two 
years he held the office of alderman from 
the Third ward, and in the council was 
chairman of the street committee one year, 
and of sidewalks two years. For five years 
he represented the central committee in city 
and county in the Republican organization. 

Mr. Stannus was married to Miss Lizzie 
Ycunig. of \\'arsa\v, Illinois, in 1881. Of 
the four children born to their union, two 
are living: Edward F. is practicing dentistry 
and taking a medical course in a school at 
Ouincy; Etta C. is a child at home. John 
Young, the father of Mrs. Stannus, is a 
retired business man of Warsaw. Her 
mother is dead. 

Mr. Stannus is the third member of a 
family of six living children, who were 
l)orn to his parents: W^illiam J., a ranch- 
owner in South Dakota: John J., a resident 
of Central City, South Dakota: Albert L., 
a resilient of Spearfish, South Dakota; 
Mrs. Milton C. Brenn, of Spearfish, South 
Dakota, and Mrs. A. R. Clemmons, also of 
Spearfish, South Dakota. 

As will be noted from this outline the 



LEE COUNTY, 10 IV A. 



501 



I 



family have long taken a prominent part 
in the upbuilding; and development of the 
country wherever they may be found. The 
grandfather and the father have proved 
themselves wide-awake and public spirited, 
antl the new generation, whether in Dakota, 
or Chicago, or elsewhere, shows the same 
m()\ing. and is progressive and earnest. 



I 



FRANK M. FULLER, M. D. 

Dr. Frank AI. Fuller, a practicing physi- 
cian of Keokuk, was born in the city which 
is yet his home on the 29th of September, 
1867. Flis father was Dr. E. E. Fuller, a 
l)hysician and druggist who died in the year 
1897, ^"f' '^'s mother, who still survives, is 
now living in Quincy. In their family were 
fi\e children: Charles M., who is now fore- 
man with the Baker Medicine Company, of 
Keokuk: Mrs. E. F. Keith, of San Fran- 
cisco; David (j., of Chicago; Mrs. J. L. 
Tapp, of Quincy, Illinois, and Frank M. 

Dr. I'uller, nf this re\iew, comes of a 
line of physicians the profession being rep- 
resented in each generation from 1737 down 
to the present time. He pursued his early 
education in the public schools, passed 
through successive grades until he had com- 
pleted the high-school course and sub- 
sequently entered Parson's College at Fair- 
field, Iowa, in which he was graduated on 
the completion of the classical course in 



1888, the degree of Bachelor of Arts being 
then conferred upon him. in i8(;i he re- 
ceived the Master of Arts degree frorfi the 
same institution. He entered upon his busi- 
ness career in connection with his father and 
was associated with him in ilie conduct of 
a drug store for seven years. When deter- 
mining to engage in the practice of medi- 
cine he entered as a student the Keokuk 
Medical College and therein completed the 
regular course by graduation with the class 
of 1897.' He then practiced until the fall 
of 1897, \vhen he accepted the chair of chem- 
istry in the Keokuk Medical College. Later 
he went aliroad and pursued a post-gradu- 
ate course in the Metropolitan School of 
Aledicine in London. LTpon his return he 
resumed the practice of medicine and also 
his college work, in which he actively con- 
tinued until 190 1, when he again crossed 
the .\tlantic and this time inu'sued a course 
in the Cniversitv of X'ienna and in the 
Vienna Polyclinic. He has been very suc- 
cessful in his practice, owing to his careful 
and comprehensive preparation and his de- 
\-otion to the duties of the profession. He 
has a large ])rivate practice and in addition 
has long l)een connected with educational 
work in the Keokuk Medical College. At 
the ])resent writing he occupies the chair 
of diseases of children in the nurses' school 
and of clinical diseases of children in the 
hospital in connection with the college. He 
belongs to the American Medical Associ- 
ation, the Iowa State Medical Society, the 
Tri-state Medical Society, the Southeastern 
Iowa Medical Society, the Des Moines Val- 
ley Medical Society and the Lee County 



502 



BIOGRAPHICAL REJ'IEW 



Medical Society, the latter society of which 
he is the president. 

In 1897 Dr. Fuller was married to Miss 
Anna Ballinger. who was born in Keokuk 
and they have one child, Madison Ballinger, 
born August 17. 1903. Fraternally Dr. Ful- 
ler is connected with the Masonic Lodge and 
with the Ancient Order of United Work- 
men. He is a Republican in his political 
views and has been somewhat prominent 
locally in the ranks of his party. He served 
as alderman from the Fifth ward for four 
years, has been president of the board of 



health for four years and city physician for 
two years. He was also a director in the 
Keokuk public library and manifests an 
active and helpful interest in whatever per- 
tains to the welfare and progress of his na- 
tive city. He resides at No. 524 North 
Third street, where he has a pleasant and 
attractive home and his genial, social na- 
ture has gained him warm friendship, while 
his professional skill and ability have placed 
liiiu in the front ranks among the repre- 
sentatives of the medical fraternity in his 
native countv. 




i:Nri:)j]x. 



Alleles. Rev. Melvin S 262 

Adams. Allen T 48 

Anderson, James H 84 

Anschutz, F. W 161 

Atlee, John C 13 

Atlee, Samuel 11 

Baker, Eugene S 187 

Ballinger, Frank M 127 

Barrett, William L 353 

Beall, Joshua 106 

Beubow, Sarah M 322 

Bennett, John 372 

Berryhill, Lewis A 270 

Blackinton. Noble 255 

Blackinton, William N 257 

Brewster. Charles 224 

Brewster. James C 52 

Brodt. August 96 

Brown. Edward H 454 

Buck, Edward M., M. D 144 

Bullard. Eugene G 359 

Bullard, Robert R 136 

Burgess. Rev. John 258 

Butz. Charles A 382 

Case. Thomas J 247 

Casey. Hon. Joseph M 31 

Casey. Joseph M., M. D 17 

Casey. Saberl M 25 

Cattermole, Arthur C 152 

Cattermole, Henry 452 

Chenoweth. Joseph H. D 103 

Chestnut, Robert 456 

Cobb. Edgar C 387 

Collier. Thomas 392 

Colvin. William 375 

Conaro, James 225 

Conlee, IjCwIs 219 

Conlee. William M 176 

Connable. Albert L 476 

Coon, D. Nelson, M. D 198 

Cosgrove, John 282 



Coulter. J. H., M.y 310 

Courtright. John C 78 

Coyne. Frank 329 

Craig, Hon. John E 41 

Craig, Hugh H 147 

Craig, John H 465 

Craig, Theodore A 315 

Creps, Reuben 169 

Daniels, John C 119 

Davis, Byron C 317 

Day. John I 245 

Denmire. Lawrence E 80 

DcRosear. John 193 

Dewey, Howard M 301 

Dieman. Henry H 128 

Dietz, Frank 331 

Dimond, Hon. Andrew J. . . . 35 

Dimond. John R 62 

Doering. Henry J 436 

Doern. W. G.. M. D 231 

Doerr. Charles 368 

Donnell. Thomas H 365 

Dooley. William M 180 

Downs. John. M. D 130 

Eichl)orn, Julius 457 

Eidson. Andrew J., M. D 138 

Eitman, William 468 

Enslow. Elias H 379 

Eppers, Henry P 81 

Faulkner, Jay W 400 

Ferguson, John S 253 

Fiedler. Dr. Edward C 265 

Finch. Hon. Charles H 71 

Finerty, Patrick H 195 

Forder. Joseph E 264 

Foulkes, Albert E 274 

Fuller. Frank M., M, D 501 

Fulton, Harry 123 

Fulton. William 140 

Galland. Capt. Washington. 232 
Gardner, James M 73 



Gardner, Roljert A 91 

Garmo, Matthias 428 

Gerboth, Henry C 181 

Gregory, Joseph 294 

Haessig, Henry G 364 

Hagan, Charles J., M. D 83 

Hagerman, Benjamin F. . . . 197 

Haisch, Jacob 240 

Hamilton, William S 406 

Hancock, Rev. Charles, M. D. 414 

Handrich. Jacob 120 

Harmon. William 348 

Harrison. W. E 398 

Hart. George A 339 

Hart, Robert H 408 

Hartmann, Christian 441 

Hardwick. John 445 

llechler, Ixjuis A 229 

Helling, Henry 93 

Henneniann. Charles H 178 

Hopkirk, William H 319 

Hosmer, Arthur 474 

Hott, Peter 227 

Houghton, David 291 

Houston, Asa T 145 

Hurley, J. G 494 

Jacoby. Rev. William 45 

Jenkins. George F.. M. D... 470 

Jewell. Benjamin B 289 

.lohnsou. Thomas H 206 

Johnstone. Hon. Edward.... 14 

Jones. Frank H 316 

Jordan. Hon. James A 36 

Judy. George \V 366 

Kamraerer, Charles 448 

Kennedy, Hon. C. A 23 

Kennedy, Thomas 409 

Kerr, Robert 185 

Koltenstette. Stephen H 313 

Krehbiel. Rudolph H 77 



INDEX. 



Krehbiel, Valentine J 164 

Kreikenbaum. Frederick.... 117 

Lachniann, John 38 

Landes, H. C 323 

Lange, Robert 354 

Leisy, John 401 

Lupton, Joseph A 385 

Lynn, .Edward C 47 

Marshall, Sabert T 174 

Martin. Charles 108 

Mason, Jasper K 431 

Matless, Leonard 115 

Matteson, Eugene L 208 

Maxwell, James 95 

Maxwell, Thomas J., M. D . . 60 

McCabe, Jacob C 402 

McElroy, David W 214 

Mclntyre, Benjamin F 429 

McKeehan, Isaiah 496 

McKenzie. Nicholas 260 

McQuade, James 346 

Meigs. Montgomery 305 

Menz, John 67 

Merrick, Jonathan 352 

Miller, Calvin T 242 

Miller, Jr., Daniel F 462 

Miller, Sr., Daniel F 461 

Miller, Harrison F 495 

Millmeyer, Frank 439 

Morris. Alvin C 160 

Morrison, Dennis A 50 

Mullikin, William 373 

Murphy, Martin 246 

Newberry, Abraham B 249 

Newberry Family, The 299 

Newberry, Washington 355 

Newberry, Winfield W 252 

^Newlon. William H., M. D.. 211 

Newton, Joseph E 356 

Nunn, Joseph A 394 

Oertel, Frank 498 

Off, Charles 190 

Ohning, Fred H 230 

Oilar, Eli R 420 

Oldenburg, William 209 

Onstott, John 459 

Overton, Elias 279 

Overton, Marion T 280 

Pagett, Thomas S 419 

Patterson, Col. William 489 

Patterson, William D 381 

Pease, Hon. James B 449 

RD-7 ' 



Pennartz, Elizabeth 321 

Philpott, John W., M. D 53 

Phinney, L. H 218 

Pitman. Lindsey G 334 

Poole, Benton 277 

Poole, Joseph P 250 

Potts, William C 425 

Quicksell, James W 100 

Raber, Charles N 396 

Rand, George D 479 

Ranson, George 72 

Ray, Wiley B 377 

Ray, W. L 340 

Rebo, Mrs. Grace 191 

Reigle, Martin F 284 

Reimers, Bendix 362 

Rice, Jonas 39 

Richardson, Samuel F 463 

Rings, Henry 422 

Risser, Jacob M 172 

Robbins, Charles C 276 

Roberts, France C, M. D... 113 

Roberts, Nelson C 142 

Rogers, Arthur 137 

Rogers, George E 171 

Rogers, Milward H 55 

Ross, William A 417 

Rump. George 390 

Ruth, Charles E.. M. D 75 

Sawyer, Hazen 1 134 

Sawyer, Horace 266 

Scheffler, Sr.. Peter S 434 

Schenk, Frank J 344 

Scherfe. Augustus 158 

Scherfe, William A 165 

Schmidt, Henry 112 

Schneider. William 188 

Schultz, Charles 192 

Schwite, Frederick 397 

Scott, John C 243 

Seitz, Franklin R 423 

Sheperd, William 350 

Simpson. Thomas J 442 

Sims, Ira S 110 

Skinner, William 411 

Skyles. Harvey A 413 

Smith, Christian 492 

Smith, Frederick W 296 

Smith, George W 168 

Smith, Lawrence 87 

Smith, Richard E 216 

Smutz, John H 92 

Smyth. George W 148 



Snyder, Theodore B 88 

St. Joseph's Catholic Church 203 

St. Mary's Catholic Church. 43 

Stannus, Frank E 499 

Stewart, George B 239 

Stewart, Rev. George D 18 

Stoner, Reuben C 122 

Swindaman, Casper 440 

Tegler. Rev. John 287 

Thompson, Sarah J., M. D.. 183 

Timpe, William R 28 

Townsend, Edgar K 101 

Tracy, Oscar O 311 

Traverse, Isaac W., M. D... 163 

Trevitt, Ethan L 105 

Troja, Frank 170 

Troja, Joseph 341 

Trump, Christian 300 

Tucker, Charles C 376 

Tucker, Charles Clinton 384 

Tucker. George W 361 

Tucker, John W 367 

Underwood, John B 89 

Urfer, Edwin 343 

Vanosdoll, J. L 251 

Vanosdoll, Richard 358 

Vermazen. Achie 325 

Voigt, Henry 345 

Wahrer, C. F., M. D 308 

AVaite, Morrice E 426 

Walker, Oliver D., M. D 154 

Wallace, John 222 

Walter, Lewis 68 

Waters, Frank R 330 

Wende, Henry 202 

Wilkinson, Andrew J 56 

Willard, W. C 451 

Williams, Rhoda 433 

Wilson, Capt. William 220 

Wilson, George 293 

Wilson. James X 416 

Wilson, Thomas V '. . 273 

Wilson, Walker 327 

Wood, Richard B. B 482 

Worley, Sylvester T 285 

Wright, Austin N 393 

Wyatt. William H 156 

Yotter, Jacob 447 

Young, Hon. David A 388 

Zaiser, Rev. Arthur J 204 








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